THY  SON  LIVETH 


THY  SON  LIVETH 

MESSAGES  FROM  A  SOLDIER 
TO  HIS  MOTHER 


BOSTON 
LITTLE,  BROWN,  AND  COMPANY 

1920 


Copyright,  1918, 
BT  LITTLE,  BROWN,  AKD  COMPAKT. 


All  rights  reserved 


Xortaooli  $rtss 
Set  up  and  electrotyp«d  by  J.  S.  Cuihing  Co.,  Norwood,  Mass.,  U.S.A. 


FOREWORD 

IN  issuing  anonymously  a  book  of  this 
character  the  publishers  feel  that  a  few  words 
of  explanation  are  necessary.  3  The  manu- 
script was  received  from  an  author  known  to 
them,  accompanied  by  the  following  letter: 

"The  notes  for  this  manuscript  came  into 
my  possession  several  months  ago,  but  I 
have  not  seen  my  way  clear  to  submit  it  for 
publication  until  now,  when  the  poignant 
grief  of  the  world  moves  every  heart  to  offer 
all  it  may  of  comfort. 

"I  am  convinced  that  the  simply  presented 
letters  of  the  soldier  killed  in  Flanders  con- 
tain comfort  for  all  who  now  mourn  or  must 
mourn  in  the  future.  I  should  like  to  see 
these  letters  given  a  wide  circulation  through 
the  medium  of  an  inexpensive  book." 

Convinced  of  the  sincerity  of  the  author, 
and  realizing  that  these  messages  from  an 
American  soldier  were  no  ordinary  spirit 
communications  the  publishers  asked  for 
further  information.  The  author  replied : 

"I  ask  you  to  regard  the  book  as  truth, 


2054132 


vi  Foreword 

unaccompanied  by  proofs  of  any  sort,  mak- 
ing its  own  explanation  and  appeal." 

This  book  is  published  with  the  hope 
that  it  will  fulfill  the  author's  wish — give 
comfort  to  those  of  whom  the  war  has 
demanded  the  bodies  of  then*  loved  ones. 
Its  message,  as  expressed  in  one  of  Bob's 
communications  to  his  mother,  is  "There  is 
no  death.  Life  goes  on  without  hindrance 
or  handicap.  The  one  thing  that  troubles 
the  men  who  come  here  is  the  fact  that  the 
ones  that  loved  them  are  in  agony." 


THY  SON  LIVETH 


EVERY  evening  when  I  am  at  home,  — 
and  I  am  staying  at  home  rather  closely 
these  days,  knitting  interminable  skeins  of 
gray  yarn  into  socks  for  the  boys  in  the 
trenches,  —  I  go  up  into  Bob's  room  and 
browse  around  among  his  traps  and  finger 
his  tobacco-smelling  clothes  in  the  foolish 
way  of  mothers. 

A  man's  room  is  a  queer  place  —  when 
the  man  has  gone.  This  one,  across  the 
hall  from  mine,  is  the  one  Bob  chose  for 
himself  when  he  was  graduated  from  the 
nursery.  It  was  not  his  first  choice.  With 
the  announcement  that  he  no  longer  wanted 
to  be  watched  over  at  night,  he  selected 
and  preempted  the  guest  chamber  in  the 
farthest  part  of  the  house  and  moved  in 
with  his  dog  and  a  guinea  pig.  He  put  in 
the  night  there,  too,  without  a  whimper. 
But  in  the  morning  he  informed  me  that  he 
felt  he  ought  to  be  near  me  in  case  I  needed 
his  help.  He  moved :  and  the  room  is 

l 


Thy  Son  Liveth' 


one  volume  of  his  history  from  the  day  he 
was  five  years  old.  A  record  of  his  progress 
from  that  time  until  the  bugles  called  him 
away.  His  books  in  the  shelves  range  from 
Mother  Goose  Tales  to  Kant  and  his  clan  of 
thinkers,  and  up  to  what  Morse  planted 
and  Marconi  made  to  blossom.  The  last 
named  are  the  thumbed  books.  Bob  took 
to  telegraphy  as  a  spark  takes  to  the  air  wave. 
He  was  one  of  the  first  to  raise  a  wireless 
mast  from  the  top  of  his  home  and,  of  course, 
I  had  to  study  and  experiment  with  him. 
He  bullied  me  into  learning  the  code  and 
being  the  party  of  the  second  part  to  take 
his  messages.  Looking  back  upon  this  now, 
I  am  impressed  with  the  methods  that  are 
used  by  the  Destiny  that  shapes  our  ends. 
Had  it  not  been  for  that  inkling  of  the  science 
of  telegraphy  which  I  gained  in  our  play  I 
should  not  have  heard  a  message  that  — 
but  of  this  I  will  speak  further. 

It  was  something  of  a  bore  to  me  to  put 
in  my  time  trying  to  master  a  complex  thing 
like  the  wireless ;  and,  of  course,  I  never  did 
become  proficient.  But  when  the  grind  was 
over,  and  we  both  had  acquired  some  speed 
and  receptiveness,  it  was  great  fun ;  and  we 
had  a  secret  between  us  that  made  us  pals. 
We  used  to  sit  up  here  in  this  room  and  pick 


Thy  Son  Liveth 


up  diplomatic  secrets  which  we  could  not, 
fortunately,  decode,  and  international  mes- 
sages which  we  could  not,  unfortunately, 
I  believe  now,  decipher.  And  when  Bob 
began  to  really  grapple  with  the  mathematics 
which  were  to  make  his  path  straight  to  his 
eagerly  adopted  profession  of  electrical  engi- 
neering, he  spent  his  leisure  hours  in  trying 
to  simplify  Marconi's  already  simple  appa- 
ratus. 

We  were  here  together  the  day  Milly, 
the  maid,  brought  up  the  afternoon  mail 
and  gave  Bob  a  long,  official-looking  envelope 
which  proved  to  contain  an  order  from  Wash- 
ington to  immediately  dismantle  the  wire- 
less apparatus.  We  had  heard  that  amateurs 
were  making  nuisances  of  themselves  —  even 
in  space;  but  it  came  as  a  shock  to  find 
that  we  were  included  in  that  list.  Bob 
was  literally  a  young  thunder-god  when  he 
stood  above  his  instrument  and  flashed  his 
protests  to  the  capital.  Every  time  I  glance 
toward  that  corner  of  the  room  I  recall 
how  he  looked  with  his  "mad  on",  as  little 
Myra  Kelly  used  to  say.  He  is  a  good-look- 
ing boy,  tall,  athletic,  strong-featured  and 
blue-eyed,  with  his  dark  hair  brushed  straight 
back  in  the  fashion  young  New  York  has 
so  generally  adopted.  He  had  on  his  work- 


4  Thy  Son  Liveth 

ing  togs  at  the  time  of  which  I  speak :  gray 
trousers,  low  collar  and  soft  tie.  He  was 
tense  with  indignation. 

I  suggested  that  there  might  be  something 
doing  which  we  did  not  understand.  He  said 
he  ought  to  be  told  why  he  was  being  bossed 
about  like  that;  and  he  intended  to  find 
out  what  the  deuce  the  government  meant 
by  it.  We  did  not  find  out  very  much. 
But  the  curt  message  to  dismantle  without 
delay  was  not  long  coming.  Bob  showed 
a  little  fight.  I  told  him  that  we  had  never 
been  obliged  to  practice  obedience  to  those 
in  authority,  so  it  came  hard ;  but  as  Ameri- 
cans, united  for  the  good  of  all  in  a  common 
cause,  it  seemed  the  thing  to  conform  to 
any  requirement  and  ask  why  afterwards. 

He  cQd  not  yield  without  a  struggle;  but 
he  yielded. 

"It's  a  darn  shame,"  he  grumbled,  as  he 
came  back  through  the  window  with  the 
multiple  antennae  in  his  arms  and  subdued 
the  wires  to  a  coil  upon  the  table.  "I 
believe  I  was  just  on  the  verge  of  hitting  a 
plan  to  do  away  with  a  lot  of  this  trumpery." 

He  sat  on  the  edge  of  the  table  and  dangled 
his  long  legs  restlessly. 

"Darn  it,"  he  repeated,  in  vexation,  "I'm 
going  to  hire  a  little  etheric  wave  of  my  own. 


Thy  Son  Liveth  5 

Why,  mother,  James"  (he  meant  William 
James,  of  Harvard;  rather  a  lion  in  his 
estimation)  "James  says  that  all  the  means 
of  inter-mind  communication  are  at  hand 
and  available.  Then*  utilization  only  awaits 
developed  human  intelligence." 

He  started  to  put  away  the  coils  and  vari- 
ous parts  that  he  had  brought  in;  but  de- 
cided to  leave  the  receiver  where  it  was 
until  he  figured  out  some  plan  to  make  labo- 
ratory use  of  it.  I  left  him  fuming,  literally, 
in  a  blue  haze,  and  went  down  for  tea. 

Our  house  is  one  of  the  old  homes  on  the 
Hudson  below  Tarrytown.  I  was  born, 
married  and  widowed  here :  and  here  Bob 
first  saw  the  earth-light.  The  people  who 
live  with  us  and  serve  us  are,  in  turn,  served 
by  us.  We  feel  ourselves,  truly,  a  part  of 
the  soil.  We  live  simply,  and  have  had 
•just  the  ordinary  experiences  of  the  com- 
fortable American  family  in  church  and 
society  and  home.  I  want  to  dwell  upon 
this  sane  and  altogether  unimaginative  exist- 
ence on  account  of  what  I  have  to  tell 
later. 

Milly  had  brought  in  the  tea  cart,  and  Bob 
came  down  to  join  me.  He  was  still  irri- 
tated; but  he  ate  a  whole  jar  of  Damson 
jam  and  demolished  the  bread  plate  until 


6  Thy  Son  Liveth 

I  had  to  remind  him  that  we  were  only  two 
hours  from  dinner. 

"Let's  go  out  somewhere,"  he  jumped 
up,  laughing.  "Tramp  or  row,  which  shall 
it  be?  I'll  get  your  wrap  and  scarf." 

I  chose  the  river.  I  knew  the  canoe  would 
keep  him  occupied,  and  I  felt  that  his  nerves 
needed  steadying.  We  went  out  and  down 
to  where  the  little  boat  was  bumping  its 
nose  against  the  pier,  and  hi  a  few  minutes 
Bob  was  sending  it,  with  his  college  stroke, 
toward  the  fleet  that  lay  in  the  river.  We 
have  liked  to  be  together  in  great  moments 
—  the  boy  and  I.  This  was  a  great  moment. 
We  paddled  in  and  among  the  ships  and 
looked  up  at  them  with  pride  in  our  hearts. 

"They  look  invincible,  don't  they?"  I 
quavered. 

He  gave  me  a  quick  look. 

"Mother,  that's  what  you  said  the  day  we 
went  over  the  Lusitania." 

My  heart  plunged,  sickeningly.  The  light 
seemed  wiped  from  the  sky.  Bob  was  still 
staring  as  though  he,  too,  had  suddenly 
seen  an  object,  long  unheeded,  before  his 
eyes. 

"What  I  want  to  know,"  he  jerked  out, 
"is  this:  Why  aren't  we  at  war  with  Ger- 
many, when  Germany  is  at  war  with  us  ? " 


Thy  Son  Liveth 


He  stopped  to  shout  to  me  not  to  roek 
the  boat.  I  think  I  nearly  sent  it  to  the 
bottom  of  the  stream.  For,  suddenly,  I 
saw  what  had  stopped  our  play  with  the  wire- 
less. All  the  events  of  the  past  few  weeks, 
which  had  appeared  of  little  consequence, 
loomed  big  before  me. 

"Let's  go  home,"  I  said  weakly.  "And 
don't  talk  to  me.  Our  country  is  at  war  — 
and  I  did  not  know  it  until  this  minute." 

He  devoted  all  his  attention  to  getting 
free  of  the  ships  and  avoiding  the  big  swell 
made  by  a  small  tug.  I  wondered  if  it 
was  the  fading  light  that  changed  his  face 
so  when  he  said,  at  last:  "You  know  what 
that  means,  mother?" 

And  I  answered,  untruthfully :  "  I  know 
what  it  means." 

He  suddenly  smiled  and  threw  a  paddle 
full  of  spray  over  me  as  we  landed. 

"Oh,  you  Spartan  mother!"  he  laughed. 
"That  'come  back  with  your  shield  or  upon 
it'  business  does  not  go  with  such  a  fat  little 
rascal-ma  as  you  are.  Come,  I'll  race  you 
to  the  house." 

But  I  held  back. 

"Robert,  don't,"  I  whimpered.  "I  am 
an  old  woman  with  a  boy  that  is  going  to 
the  guns." 


8  Thy  Son  Liveth 

He  came  back  and  put  his  arm  around  me, 
for  I  was  trembling. 

"We  can't  start  the  thing  ourselves," 
he  said ;  "we've  got  to  wait  for  Washington. 
So  cheer  up.  Who  can  tell  what  may  happen 
to  stave  it  off  ?  " 

But  I  knew  that  it  was  to  be.  Knew  as 
well  as  I  did  months  later  when  war  was 
declared. 

Meanwhile  we  went  about  our  ordinary 
ways,  with  the  exception  that  I  concentrated 
on  Red  Cross  and  foreign  relief  work  and 
withdrew  from  some  of  my  club  activities. 
Bob  entered  Columbia  and  came  out  for 
the  week-ends,  at  which  time  I  had  our  usual 
house  parties  which  included  so  many  pretty 
girls  that  he  could  not,  for  the  life  of  him, 
fall  in  love  with  any  one.  People  thought 
that  I  wanted  to  monopolize  my  son  and 
keep  him  from  his  own  love  and  happiness. 
But  he  knew  that  my  hands  were  off  his  life. 
I  was  just  an  old  campaigner  showing  a  good 
way  but  leaving  the  youngster  free  to  dis- 
cover a  better  one,  if  he  could.  I  was  rather 
surprised,  however,  as  the  weeks  passed 
and  he  was  still  heart  free.  I  think  his  mind 
was  more  or  less  occupied  with  his  electrical 
experiments  and  he  still  fussed  over  his 
demolished  wireless  station  and  spent  many 


Thy  Son  Liveth  9 

hours,  when  he  should  have  been  skylark- 
ing, over  the  instrument  on  the  table  yonder. 

**  Thunderation,  mother,"  he  said.  "I 
can't  get  away  from  the  feeling  that  I  ought 
to  get  up  to  the  nth  degree  in  this  science ! 
The  Germans  are  using  it  in  ways  that  we 
do  not  know.  And  if  I  am  called  to  fight, 
as  of  course  I  shall  be,  I  want  a  trick  up  my 
sleeve  that  will  beat  the  enemy  at  his  own 
game.  Anybody  but  you  would  laugh  to 
hear  me  say  it;  but  I  have  a  hunch  that 
I  am  going  to  be  needed  in  some  particular 
capacity  before  we  win  this  war.  And 
you  mark  my  words :  some  day  when  you 
are  up  here  in  this  old  room  of  mine,  you  are 
going  to  hear  from  your  little  Robbie !  I 
am  going  to  put  the  thing  together  as  well 
as  I  can  and  keep  within  the  restrictions, 
and  when  I  am  in  France  I'll  see  if  I  can't 
figure  out  a  system  of  relays  or  something 
or  other  so  that  I  can  get  in  touch  with 
you." 

I  did  not  think  it  possible  then.  But  I 
remembered  what  he  had  said  when  the 
old  house  was  only  a  lonely,  gray  pile  of 
empty  rooms,  and  he  had  gone,  with  the 
unit,  at  the  first  call  to  arms. 

What  I  felt  to  see  my  only  son  go  to  war  is 
just  what  other  mothers  have  felt  and  will 


10  Thy  Son  Liveth 

feel  as  more  and  more  young  men  are  given 
to  their  country.  But  what  further  I  have 
to  reveal  is  what  every  father  and  mother 
should  know.  And  quite  simply  I  am  going 
to  tell  it. 

Bob  was  assigned  to  an  Engineers'  Corps 
and  soon  won  his  commission  as  second  lieu- 
tenant. He  was  among  the  first  to  cross. 
I  had  a  dozen  letters  from  "Somewhere 
in  France",  and  it  was  not  hard  to  catch 
something  of  his  spirit  and  enthusiasm.  He 
was  glorying  in  his  hard  work  and  his  pros- 
pects for  getting  a  whack  at  the  Hun.  He 
had  qualified  for  wireless  work,  much  to  his 
delight,  and  had  been  out  on  a  reconnais- 
sance. Pershing,  himself,  had  commended 
him.  He  warned  me  not  to  worry  if  I  did 
not  often  hear  —  that  letters  are  hard  to  get 
through.  And  now  came  one  telling  me  of 
fun  in  camp  and  the  brighter  side  of  soldier- 
ing. He  added  that  I  had  been  a  brick 
to  him  and  made  him  a  man. 

I  brought  this  letter  up  to  read  in  his  room 
and  was  laughing  and  crying  over  it,  as 
women  will,  when  the  wireless  signaled 
"attention."  I  sprang  to  the  key,  and  in  a 
moment  I  had  the  message  that  Bob  had 
promised  to  find  means  to  send  me  here. 
It  is  before  me  now  as  I  made  the  transla- 


Thy  Son  Liveth  11 

tion  from  the  Morse  code,  adding  only  the 
marks  of  punctuation : 

"Mother,  be  game.  I  am  alive  and  lov- 
ing you.  But  my  body  is  with  thousands 
of  other  mothers'  boys  near  Lens.  Get 
this  fact  to  others  if  you  can.  It's  awful 
for  us  when  you  grieve,  and  we  can't  get 
in  touch  with  you  to  tell  you  we  are  all 
right.  This  is  a  clumsy  way.  I'll  figure 
out  something  easier.  I'm  confused  yet. 
Bob." 

So  the  news  that  my  son  had  been  killed 
came  to  me  from  his  own  intelligence  by 
the  methods  we  had  used  together  in  our 
experiments  here  in  this  very  room.  And 
so  I  am  transcribing  it,  as  he  told  me  to  do, 
for  all  to  see  who  can  be  convinced  of  its 
sincerity.  I  have  no  explanations  or  proofs 
other  than  those  that  are  given  here  :  A  man 
who  was  killed  in  battle  and  is  yet  alive,  and 
able  to  communicate  with  the  one  closest  to 
him  in  sympathy,  must  make  his  own  argu- 
ments. I  have  no  knowledge  of  established 
psychic  laws  or  limitations.  But  I  know  what 
I  know. 

My  own  emotions,  the  more  or  less  event- 
ful chapters  of  my  life  and  the  lives  of  those 
about  me,  have  nothing  to  do  with  this  book 
of  letters  from  far  places.  Bob  and  I  want 


12  Thy  Son  Liveth 

to  ease,  so  far  as  may  be,  the  intolerable 
anguish  of  the  world.  There  was  nothing 
spectacular  or  notable  in  his  death.  A 
month  later  the  papers  gave  his  name  among 
hundreds  of  others  that  were  mowed  down 
by  German  guns.  He  must  have  communi- 
cated with  me  very  soon  after  he  fell.  And 
first  and  last  his  urgent  desire  was,  and  is, 
to  reassure  and  comfort  the  families  of 
"departed"  soldiers.  In  the  messages  that 
follow  in  their  order,  many  will  find  a  natural- 
ness that  must  appear  absurd.  They  will 
feel  that,  as  in  the  case  of  all  experiments 
beyond  the  bourne  of  the  material  senses, 
the  spiritual  communications  are  sadly  mixed 
with  earth.  In  this  view  I  can  sympathize. 
I  have  always  turned  away  from  books  of 
alleged  spiritual  sources  because  I  have  felt 
that  the  author-soul  was  not  advanced  intel- 
lectually beyond  the  very  ordinary  human 
scale.  I  wanted  the  evidence  of  an  imme- 
diate angelhood:  all-wise,  all-seeing,  all- 
knowing.  But  I  am  now  convinced  that 
the  processes  of  education  among  the  worlds 
are  somewhat  the  same ;  and  I  am  decidedly 
comforted  to  realize  that  Bob  Bennett  is 
Bob  Bennett  still.  Loving  and  slangy  and 
f  amiliar  —  but  with  a  tremendously  enlarged 
sphere  of  activities  and  absolute  freedom 


Thy  Son  Liveth  13 

from  physical  handicaps  and  the  restricted 
period  of  years. 

I  have  had,  up  to  the  time  that  I  began 
to  arrange  for  publishing,  almost  daily 
communications  from  my  son.  Some  of 
these  are  personal  letters  which  I  shall  not 
include  in  this  work,  lest  in  the  future  some 
one  may  pierce  our  necessary  anonymity. 
But  all  those  that  seem  to  me  to  clear  some- 
what the  mystery,  and  to  simplify  the 
methods  of  mental  intercourse,  are  given  as 
received.  As  will  be  noted  by  an  early 
letter,  the  use  of  the  wireless  telegraph  was 
soon  abandoned  for  the  better-known  auto- 
matic writing  simply  as  a  matter  of  conven- 
ience. This  will,  of  course,  make  skeptics 
say  that  these  are  the  writer's  subconscious 
emanations  —  nothing  more  or  less. 

Well,  maybe  they  are.  I  cannot  say  that 
they  are  not.  For  I  do  not  know  what 
subconsciousness  is.  What  stuff  it  is  made 
of.  Whence  it  comes  or  whither  it  goes. 
Maybe  it  is  the  bridge,  the  link  between  the 
mortal  and  immortal  part  of  man.  Maybe 
it  is  the  inherent  life  which  all  scientists, 
from  first  to  last,  have  sought  without  find- 
ing; that  invisible  stumbling  block  over 
which  every  well-built  theory  of  atoms  and 
electrons  takes  its  headlong  fall.  If  sub- 


14  Thy  Son  Liveth 

consciousness  is  one  of  these,  it  is  more  than 
probable  that  my  boy  is  using  its  avenues 
of  communication.  For  they  must  be  clear 
enough  from  his  end  of  the  road.  In  fact, 
as  will  be  seen  in  the  notes,  if  we  were  not 
asleep  at  our  switchboards,  we  might  all  be 
in  communication  as  easy  and  voluntary  as 
are  the  people  in  the  commonplaces  who  send 
telegrams  to  each  other  every  day. 

Bob  dwells  upon  the  simplicity  of  it.  He 
makes  it  plain  —  to  me  —  that  there  is 
no  need  of  the  outside  "hocus-pocus"  of 
mystery-trumpery  and  cabinets  and  ignorant 
go-betweens,  trances  and  crystal  gazings, 
and  all  that  sort  of  thing.  He  dwells  on  the 
discovery  that  the  mortal  really  puts  on 
immortality.  He  finds  it  difficult  to  de- 
scribe what  the  difference  is  in  what  we  call 
the  spiritual  world :  the  ways  of  living,  eat- 
ing, drinking,  and  dressing.  "As  far  as 
I  can  see,"  he  says,  in  one  of  his  very  late 
letters,  "this  is  a  place  where  one  can  carry 
out  his  own  inclinations :  for  instance,  I  am 
plugging  away  at  the  wireless  as  I  wanted 
to  do  before  I  came.  I  live  with  a  lot  of 
other  fellows  in  camp  just  now." 

In  looking  over  his  letters  I  cannot  see 
that  he  has  revealed  the  secrets  of  his  new 
surroundings.  He  does  not  seem  to  be 


Thy  Son  Liveth  15 

withholding  anything  purposely;  but  my 
curiosity  in  regard  to  who's  who  in  Heaven 
and  my  questions  concerning  theological 
matters  do  not,  as  yet,  receive  attention. 
It  may  be  that  the  Higher  Diplomacy  with- 
holds these  things,  or  it  may  be  that  we  are 
not  sufficiently  enlightened  to  understand 
even  these  things  with  which  we  are  con- 
tinually confronted.  I  do  not  in  the  least 
understand  the  simplest  phenomena  of  vis- 
ible nature,  but  if  Bob  does  not  tell  me  how 
he  gets  his  clothes,  or  intimate  as  to  who  does 
the  work  in  the  far  places,  I  think  there 
must  be  something  apocryphal  about  his 
messages.  And  because  of  unbelief  I  fall 
back  into  the  common  attitude :  a  woman 
mourning  for  her  son  and  cannot  be  com- 
forted. 

Faith  has  accomplished  about  every  duty 
assigned  to  it,  apparently,  but  the  recogni- 
tion of  the  free  progress  of  the  liberated  soul. 
"Proof,  proof,"  we  call.  But  there  is  no 
proof.  And  so  some  saturnine  man  builds 
a  creed  out  of  his  own  meager  understanding. 
And  he  puts  heaven  high  and  hell  low,  and 
a  weak  and  violent  God  between  them.  If 
I  had  not  the  certainty  that  these  communi- 
cations I  have  are  authentic,  the  literal  mes- 
sages from  my  son  to  me,  I  should  still  rather 


16  Thy  Son  Liveth 

accept  a  pleasant  faith  on  trust  than  an 
unpleasant  one  on  the  same  condition. 

One  thing  alone  is  certain, — the  inevitable- 
ness  of  that  change  which  most  of  us  call 
"death"  and  poet-seers,  like  Wordsworth, 
call  "transition."  The  words  are  synonyms. 
My  boy  has  brought  me  to  a  sense  of  the 
sane  and  simple  naturalness  with  which  our 
family  life  goes  on  when  we  have  finished 
this  classroom  work  and  progressed  to  far 
places.  I  think  there  are  analogies  in  nature 
at  every  hand :  millions  of  little  shelled 
creatures,  the  names  of  which  I  do  not  know, 
and  as  many  more  minute  organisms  undergo 
successive  changes  and  developments  that 
are  not  less  marvelous  than  the  emergence 
of  the  soul  from  the  body. 

Those  who  have  experienced  death  have 
found  it  easy :  particularly  those  who  have 
gone  out  in  the  crash  of  battle  or  tremendous 
and  sudden  disasters.  Bob  speaks  at  first 
hand  of  this.  And  from  now  on  his  letters 
must  bear  the  consolation  that  he  so  wishes 
to  extend :  Blessed  are  they  that  mourn, 
for  they  shall  be  comforted. 
Letter  Number  2  (by  wireless) 

Attention :  Get  this  across  —  there  is  no 
horror  in  death.  I  was  one  minute  in  the 
thick  of  things,  with  my  company,  and  the 


Thy  Son  Liveth  17 

next  minute  Lieutenant  Wells  touched  my 
arm  and  said :  "Our  command  has  crossed  : 
Let's  go."  I  thought  he  meant  the  river, 
and  followed  him  under  the  crossfire  barrage 
the  Tommies  made,  up  to  a  hillside  that  I 
had  not  noticed  before :  a  clean  spot  not 
blackened  by  the  guns.  Lots  of  fellows 
I  knew  were  there,  and  strange  troops. 
But  they  looked  queer:  I  glanced  down  at 
myself.  I  was  olive  drab  all  right.  But 
my  uniform  was  not  khaki :  it  seemed  to  be 
a  fabric  of  some  more  tenuous  kind.  I  had 
no  gun.  I  overtook  Wells.  "What  in  the 
deuce  is  the  matter  with  me,  with  us  all?" 
I  asked.  He  said,  "Bob,  we're  dead." 
I  didn't  believe  it  at  first.  I  felt  all  right. 
But  the  men  were  moving,  and  I  fell  in  line. 
When  we  marched  through  the  German 
barbed-wire  barricades  and  in  front  of  the 
howitzers,  I  realized  that  the  body  that  could 
be  hurt  had  been  shed  on  the  red  field. 
Then  I  thought  of  you.  Sent  that  wireless 
from  an  enemy  station  in  the  field.  The 
officer  in  charge  couldn't  have  seen  me.  But 
he  heard,  I  guess,  by  the  way  his  eyes  popped. 
He  sent  a  few  shots  in  my  direction,  any- 
way. I  am  using  an  abandoned  apparatus 
in  a  trench  to-day,  depending  on  relays. 
We  are  assigned  to  duty  here  for  the  present, 


18  Thy  Son  Liveth 

according  to  Wells.  I  don't  know  how  he 
knows.  It  seems  while  we  have  no  super- 
natural power  to  divert  or  stop  bullets,  we 
can  comfort  and  reassure  those  who  are  about 
to  join  us.  There  has  been  much  talk  about 
the  presence  of  one  supposed  to  be  the  Savior 
among  the  dying.  I  should  not  wonder  if 
that  were  true.  The  capacity  for  believing 
is  enlarged  by  experience.  But  as  yet  I 
have  no  more  real  knowledge  than  any  of 
the  other  fellows.  I  will  let  you  know  as 
I  gain  information.  Others,  like  me,  will 
pick  up  and  relay  the  messages. 
Number  Three  (by  wireless) 

Attention :  As  I  see  this  war,  a  curious 
understanding  of  its  purpose  and  ultimate 
result  is  dawning  in  my  mind.  The  soldiers 
are  the  pick  of  humanity.  The  young, 
brave,  blameless  manhood  that  has  been 
brought  to  its  majority  on  the  earth  so  that 
it  may  form  an  ideal  democracy  in  this 
existence  which,  I  am  told,  is  of  permanent 
character.  I  am  bungling  the  big  idea. 
But,  you  know  what  I  mean,  mother.  I'll 
grow  clearer,  maybe.  Wells  is  getting  to  be 
a  whale  of  an  oracle.  Some  of  the  fellows 
are  in  a  funk,  and  others  are  sullen  and  un- 
happy :  homesick,  I  guess.  The  young 
married  men  mostly.  If  they  could  get  in 


Thy  Son  Liveth  19 

touch  with  their  folks,  it  would  be  all  right. 
That's  why  I  want  to  try  and  simplify  some 
system  of  communication.  You  have  never 
failed  me :  and  now  if  you  can  get  it  firmly 
fixed  in  your  mind  that  I  am  I,  not  what 
is  vulgarly  called  a  ghost  but  a  being  just 
as  much  as  I  ever  was,  we  can  start  something 
worth  while.  It's  got  to  begin  with  some 
one  as  level-headed  as  you  are.  I'm  called 
away. 
Letter  Number  4  (by  wireless) 

Attention:  We  hit  upon  the  key  word, 
when  we  agreed  to  use  the  word  Attention 
in  our  wireless  practice.  It  is  the  word 
that  unlocks  the  inner,  or  secret,  ear  to  hear 
otherwise  inaudible  voices.  Do  you  get 
me  ?  I  mean  :  when  you  want  to  talk  with 
me,  concentrate  your  mind  by  calling  your 
own  faculties,  the  unused  ones,  mostly,  to 
"attention."  See  if  they  don't  respond. 
It  may  require  practice,  but  I  am  told  there 
is  no  reason  in  the  worlds,  —  notice  the 
plural,  —  why  we  should  not  talk  with  the 
greatest  ease  and  without  any  mechanics. 
Come  up  and  try  to-morrow.  See  if  I  can't 
project  my  thought  direct  to  yours.  Bring 
pencil  and  tablet  if  you  want  to.  But  a 
fellow  here  who  knows  all  about  automatic 
writing  says  there  is  no  pencil-guiding  by 


20  Thy  Son  Liveth 

unseen  hands  about  it.  The  recipient  just 
takes  dictation.  Better  bring  the  pencil. 
You  will  want  to  report  this  just  as  it  is  for 
our  purpose.  I'll  find  out  all  I  can,  but  just 
now  we  are  engaged  here  in  relief  work. 
Some  of  the  chaps  are  very  young,  and  we 
see  them  through.  I'll  explain  about  those 
unused  faculties  when  I  learn  more  defi- 
nitely about  them. 

Ed.  note.  I  tried  to  write  automatically 
that  afternoon  but  what  I  got  did  not  sat- 
isfy me.  I  seemed  to  be  "faking"  the 
message.  I  gave  it  up  and  called  Bob  by 
wireless  as  I  used  to  call  him.  He  did  not 
answer.  I  tried  again  with  the  pencil  and 
had  a  few  words.  But  afterwards  we  pro- 
gressed with  increasing  ease  and  freedom 
by  means  of  that  method.  The  unnum- 
bered messages  following  were  all  automati- 
cally written. 

This  is  harder  —  will  have  to  practice. 
But  it  can  be  done. 

Try  to  realize  that  thought  is  the  one 
thing  that  is  absolutely  unlimited.  You  can 
send  your  thought  to  the  most  remote  place 
as  easily  as  you  can  direct  it  to  something  in 
your  immediate  neighborhood.  Science  has 


Thy  Son  Liveth 


not  explained  why.  Inter-space  communi- 
cation is  not  more  mysterious  than  this. 
I  want  to  put  this  over,  mother.  Not  on 
our  account  alone.  But  because  the  little 
old  world  needs  comforting.  If  we  can  con- 
vince folks  that  this  is  true,  we  can  go  a  long 
ways  toward  wiping  out  sorrow.  I  must  go. 

Don't  go  to  mediums.  Some  are,  of  course, 
genuine.  But  the  dollar  sign  is  apt  to  cover 
fraud.  If  you  want  to  get  in  touch  with  us 

—  get  in  touch.     That  is,  get  into  a  quiet 
corner  and  listen  with  your  inner  ear.     Your 
unused  finer  perceptions.     You  will  be  able 
to  really  hear  what  I  am  saying,  after  some 
practice.     I  am  told  this  by  a  man  who  has 
come  to  instruct  us.     I  think,  on  my  own 
hook,  that  you  will  have  to  rid  your  mind  of 
worry  or  prejudice  before  we  can  make  much 
headway.     Any  one  who  wants  to  can  put 
out  a  mental  wire  that  will  be  picked  up. 
But    you    must    "beware    of    strangers!" 
Quote  that.     There  are  scalawags  ready  to 
jump  into  all  conversations  and  mix  up  things 
if  they  are  permitted  to  do  so.     Keep  your 
wires  clear. 

You  ask  how  to  keep  the  scalawags  away 

—  and  who  and  what  are  they  ?    I  don't 


22  Thy  Son  Liveth 

just  know  who  they  are.  I'll  try  and  find 
out.  But  you  have  to  "make  a  law." 
That  sounds  occult  and  I  do  not  want  any- 
thing to  be  spooky  or  unnatural  in  these 
letters.  But  that  is  the  expression  I  hear 
often  concerning  this  particular  difficulty. 
These  wire  tappers  cannot  get  by,  it  seems, 
unless  you  permit  them  to  fool  you.  You 
say:  "I  will  not  entertain  mischievous 
spirits"  —  or  something  like  that ;  and  they 
beat  it.  I  do  not  know  why  that  is  effica- 
cious. But  it  is. 

I  have  just  come  in  from  duty.  I  mean 
by  coming  in  that  I  have  come  back  to  what 
I  may  describe  as  field  headquarters.  As  I 
get  more  accustomed  to  conditions,  I  see 
that  there  are  about  a  thousand  men  here, 
some  of  them  boys  from  my  regiment.  We 
are  really  what  might  be  called  ambulance 
or  Red  Cross  units,  working  to  relieve  suf- 
fering among  the  wounded  and  to  guide 
newcomers.  Mother,  the  soul  leaves  the 
body  as  a  boy  jumps  out  of  a  school  door. 
That  is,  suddenly,  and  with  joy.  But  there 
is  a  period  of  confusion  when  a  fellow  needs 
a  friend.  Quote  that.  We  are  the  friends. 
I  guess  that  is  the  best  explanation  I  can  give. 
I  told  you  Jack  Wells  came  through  with  me. 


Thy  Son  Liveth  23 

He  has  gone  away  now.  I  am  told  we  go 
to  other  departments  of  usefulness,  as  others, 
suited  to  this  field  work,  come  on  here.  I 
will  tell  you  as  much  as  I  can. 

You  complain  that  you  cannot  really  get 
much  of  an  idea  of  conditions  here  from  what 
I  tell  you.  I  want  you  to  be  able  to  take 
my  dictation  like  a  prize-winner  and,  in  the 
meantime,  I'll  try  and  get  a  line  on  things 
here.  So  far  it  is  nothing  very  different 
from  what  we  knew  before  the  change. 
We  go  and  come  and  serve.  But  evidently 
we  are  not  seen.  We  do  not  seem  to  need 
food  or  sleep.  I  suppose  we  absorb  moisture. 
I  think  our  tenuous  bodies  are  composed 
like  clouds.  But  I  do  not  know.  Any 
way,  your  boy's  heart  is  still  in  the  right 
place. 

I  see  your  mind  like  a  white  screen,  and 
I  know  I  can  write  on  it.  Let's  make  a 
regular  job  of  this  book.  You  can  edit 
the  copy  you  get,  of  course.  But  don't 
put  any  literary  frills  in  it,  will  you  ?  When 
we  get  into  the  swing  of  it  tell  some  of  the 
other  mothers.  But  teach  them  how  to 
establish  communication  with  their  boys, 
themselves. 


24  Thy  Son  Liveth 

I  guess  you  had  better  wait  until  you  feel 
me  calling  you  after  this.  We  have  impor- 
tant duties  that  we  should  not  leave.  About 
telling  others.  That  is  what  we  are  doing 
this  for,  isn't  it?  A  kind  of  a  "comfort  ye, 
my  people"  idea.  But  we  must  be  very 
wise  and  level-headed.  I  don't  believe  I 
should  try  to  get  messages  for  others.  Every 
man  his  own  medium  is  the  best  plan. 
It  would  be  human  nature  to  doubt  the 
genuineness  of  a  letter  from  this  side.  Faith 
stops  short  at  this  threshold.  But  show 
some  friends  who  need  this  particular  kind 
of  comfort  what  you  know.  Don't  back 
out  when  you  are  laughed  at.  It's  all  in 
the  big  business  we  have  taken  on. 

We  do  not  know  anything  about  the  out- 
come of  the  war.  Some  of  the  teachers  — 
a  large  number  have  now  arrived  and  are 
mingling  with  us  in  a  friendly  way  —  refer 
to  past  calamities  in  which  the  race  has 
been  practically  obliterated  and  the  earth 
reformed  and  repopulated.  From  this  point 
of  view  that  is  not  such  a  terrible  thing  to 
contemplate.  For  we  must  start  on  the 
fact  that  the  soul  is  immortal.  There  is  no 
death  for  the  individual.  As  so  many  — 
even  material-minded  men  —  realize,  the  body 


Thy  Son  Liveth  25 

is  an  exchangeable  garment  and  does  not  count 
in  the  history  of  the  man.  It  seems  that 
there  have  been  an  interminable  number  of 
races  and  nations  lost  in  obscurity.  They 
have  moved  on  to  other  worlds,  as  this 
present  race  must  be  moved  on.  I  do  not 
know  why  civilization  is  allowed  to  reach  a 
high  mark  before  it  is  wiped  off  the  slate. 
But  that  has  been  the  rule,  and  so  the  Creator 
must  have  a  purpose. 

I  asked  one  of  the  teachers,  and  he  said 
that  the  earth  is  a  preparatory  planet.  The 
human  race  is  marked  for  an  advanced 
existence  and  is  brought  to  as  high  a  degree 
of  perfection  as  may  be  necessary  to  bring 
up  the  average.  That  is :  The  high  degree 
of  intelligence  of  the  greater  number  lifts 
the  lesser  in  the  scale.  We  begin  the  new 
existence  where  we  left  off  in  the  old.  The 
more  we  have  gained,  the  greater  our  ad- 
vancement among  far  more  favorable  condi- 
tions. That  is  not  clear.  I'll  get  a  better 
hold  on  the  idea. 

There  are  a  number  of  dogs  with  us.  I 
do  not  know  whether  they  are  astral  dogs  or 
not.  They  look  just  the  same  to  me,  and 
they  go  with  us  and  help  with  our  work. 


26  Thy  Son  Liveth 

The  boys  who  come  out  are  simply  delighted 
to  see  them. 

Jack  Wells  is  back  with  us  and  in  immedi- 
ate command  of  our  company.  He  has  been 
to  see  his  mother  and  he  is  one  happy  boy. 
She  is  somewhere  here.  Has  been  out  for 
a  long  time.  But  one  of  the  messengers 
found  him  for  her  and  he  got  immediate 
leave  to  go.  That  sounded  pretty  good  to 
me.  He  will  tell  me  about  things  later. 
We  are  very  busy. 

Don't  try  to  hold  your  pencil  any  differ- 
ently than  you  hold  it  ordinarily,  mother, 
dear.  I  am  not  guiding  your  pencil.  As 
I  figure  it  out,  I  am  simply  dictating  these 
letters,  by  some  improved  form  of  telepathy, 
to  your  mind.  You  do  the  writing.  It  is 
wholly  simple.  I  really  talk,  and  you  hear. 
Please  get  that  to  our  audience.  We  all 
have  perceptions  and  faculties  that  are 
capable  of  lifting  us  into  supermen.  The 
rub  is  we  do  not  suspect  our  own  powers. 
Do  not  let  yourself  be  led  into  a  maze  of 
reasons  why  this  thing  cannot  be.  What 
is,  is.  If  a  theory  of  cosmic  consciousness 
accounts  for  these  communications  to  any 
one ;  if  he  thinks  your  mind  is  drawing  them 


Thy  Son  Liveth  27 

from  a  reservoir  which  holds  dream  stuff 
and  the  intangible  echoes  of  the  thought 
of  all  ages,  let  it  go  at  that.  Don't 
argue. 

It  is  a  funny  thing  that  people  always  want 
to  accept  the  most  difficult  creeds  and  to 
believe  the  most  elusive  doctrines.  They 
(people)  are  a  bundle  of  credulity  and  stub- 
born doubt.  Of  course  their  eyes  will  be 
opened  in  good  time.  But  think  what  peace 
of  mind  they  are  missing.  There  are  horses 
here,  too.  Good  old  fellows,  that  nose  a 
chap's  shoulder.  I  can't  answer  for  them 
yet,  or  the  dogs  either! 

I  told  you  that  we  are  not  given  any 
power  over  bullets.  That  we  can  comfort 
but  not  save  from  what  you  call  death. 
That  is  not  quite  the  case,  I  find.  Jack 
Wells  directed  me  to  stand  by  a  junior 
lieutenant  to-day  and  impel  him  this  way 
or  that  to  avoid  danger.  In  this  way  I  dis- 
covered that  my  perceptions  are  much  more 
sensitive  than  they  were  before  I  came  out. 
I  can  estimate  the  speed  and  determine  the 
course  of  shells.  I  stood  by  this  fellow  and 
nudged  him  here  and  there,  kept  him  from 
being  hurt.  I  asked  Wells  if  that  was  an 


Thy  Son  Liveth 


answer  to  prayer.  Wells  said,  "No,  the 
young  chap  is  an  inventor,  and  has  a  job 
ahead  of  him  that's  of  importance  to  the 
world."  An  older  man  spoke  up  and  said : 
"Prayers  are  answered.  Don't  make  any 
mistake  about  that.  But  they  are  not 
answered  according  to  material  ways  of 
looking  at  things."  I  did  not  get  his  explana- 
tion well  enough  to  venture  to  repeat  it. 
I'll  know  more,  probably,  as  I  go  on. 

Mother,  dear,  you  are  behaving  like  a 
brick.  I  tell  you  we  are  going  to  get  this 
mortality  play  across  the  footlights.  And 
it  must  be  known  as  truth.  I  don't  mean 
to  call  it  that.  But  you  know  what  is  in 
my  mind.  If  you  could  hear  the  cries  that 
come  to  us  from  mothers  and  fathers  and 
wives  and  orphans,  you  would  know  how 
continuously  I  plan  and  mull  over  this 
proposition.  If  you  could  just  make  them 
understand  that  there  is  no  death.  If  you 
could  just  make  them  know  that  they  can 
call  their  own  loved  ones  to  them  and  hear, 
at  first  hand,  that  all  is  well  beyond  what 
has  truly  been  called  "the  veil."  It  is  not 
more  than  that.  It  is  not  as  much.  A  veil 
is  woven  fabric  more  or  less  resistant.  We 
are  separated  from  our  living  (I  wrote  liv- 


Thy  Son  Liveth  29 

ing;  please  cross  it  out,  because  it  would 
indicate  that  we  are  dead,  and  we  are  not) 
own  folks  by  nothing  but  those  unused 
faculties  I  spoke  of  on  your  side.  Urge  im- 
mediate development  of  these  faculties.  Teach- 
ers will,  I  am  told,  soon  appear  who  are 
capable  of  waking  these  sleeping  senses. 
With  that  accomplishment  we  shall  be  face 
to  face. 

I  can't  read  your  mind  yet.  Speak  to 
me  as  you  would  if  you  could  see  my  face. 
Fancy  that  we  are  sitting  in  the  dark  but 
fully  aware  of  each  other's  presence.  If  you 
ever  need  me,  especially,  do  not  hesitate 
to  call  me,  or  at  any  other  time.  If  I  do 
not  hear  you,  some  one  will  carry  the  mes- 
sage on  until  I  get  it.  I  have  been  so  en- 
grossed with  these  strange  happenings  that 
I  may  have  seemed  cold.  But  dear,  dear 
mother,  I  never  loved  you  better  than  I  do 
now.  And  I  understand  all  the  subtle 
wonders  of  your  love  for  me,  as  your  son, 
far  better  than  I  did  before.  I  know  you 
long  for  the  touch  of  my  hand,  my  big,  red 
grip  that  you  used  to  be  too  game  to  wince 
under.  But  be  sure  that  I  am  Bob,  your 
Bob,  and  that  we  are  going  to  have  all  the 
time  there  is  together. 


30  Thy  Son  Liveth 

You  remember  that  we  felt  rather  a  shock 
when  that  woman  you  know  edited  a  book 
of  letters  from  this  side  in  which  clothes  and 
victuals  and  drink  were  much  dwelt  upon. 
I  think  some  one  of  those  mischief-makers 
that  I  referred  to  some  time  ago  was  fooling 
her.  There  are,  as  I  explained,  many  intel- 
ligences here  that  delight  in  playing  jokes 
on  the  credulous  when  they  can  get  on 
the  etheric  wave  that  is  being  used  by  com- 
municants. Of  course  I  am  not  compe- 
tent to  make  any  positive  statement.  But 
I  think  the  conditions  here  are  wholly  spirit- 
ual. The  physical  body  and  its  functions 
have  been  discharged.  Only  the  emotions 
of  the  soul  remain.  I  wonder  if  I  can  make 
that  more  plain?  I  surely  want  to  be  a 
reliable  correspondent,  and  I  want  to  show 
that  while  the  human  machine  ceases  with 
the  body,  all  the  fine  raptures  that  made 
the  happinesses  of  earth  are  with  the  spirit. 
I,  myself,  appear  just  as  you  last  saw  me. 
But  I  am  doubtless  clothed  in  that  same 
cloudlike  vapor  that  composes  my  body. 
I  am  the  same,  yet  not  the  same,  freed  from 
the  gross  conditions  that  attend  humanity 
and  yet  capable  of  love  and  the  higher  expres- 
sions of  marriage.  I  shall  have  opportuni- 
ties to  learn  definitely  concerning  these 


Thy  Son  Liveth  31 

things  and  I  will  tell  you  —  as  frankly  as 
I  have  always  told  you  things  that  boys 
generally  keep  from  their  mothers. 

I  have  not  seen  any  one  with  wings.  We 
cover  any  number  of  miles  without  fatigue. 
That  is  a  good  thing,  for  I  have  not  heard 
of  any  rest  from  labor  being  advocated.  We 
do,  however,  rest  others.  We  ease  the  boys 
in  the  trenches  —  they  wonder  how  they  can 
sleep  so  comfortably  on  the  hard,  wet  ground, 
-  and  for  several  nights,  now,  I  have  been 
holding  a  sick  boy  in  my  arms.  These 
duties  keep  us  occupied  almost  all  the  time, 
but  we  have  undiminished  force  and  are  never 
weary.  I  hear  continually  of  the  presence 
of  the  Savior  on  the  battle  fields.  I  think 
this  must  be  true.  Anyway,  the  dying  are 
certain  that  He  has  been  with  them,  and  they 
are  happy.  They  speak  of  His  love. 

Tell  this  to  mothers.  Jack  Wells  talked 
with  me  last  night,  and  he  gave  me  a  great 
description  of  what  he  saw  when  he  went 
away  for  his  visit.  His  mother  heard  that 
he  had  come  west,  and  she  sent  a  messenger 
for  him.  It  seems  the  messengers  are  some- 
what different  from  the  rest  of  us.  I  will 
speak  of  that  later.  Jack  accompanied 


32  Thy  Son  Liveth 

this  messenger.  They  pierced  the  envelope 
of  the  earth.  Or  at  least  found  some  exit. 
From  what  Jack  gleaned,  he  thought  the 
world  we  have  believed  to  be  so  tremen- 
dously powerful  is  really  much  like  the  small- 
est ball  in  the  nest  of  balls  that  are  carved 
out  of  ivory  by  Orientals.  One  within  the 
other,  you  know.  You  have  to  penetrate 
one  to  gain  access  to  another  of  larger  size. 
So,  as  I  understand  it,  the  spiritual  worlds 
of  our  solar  system  are  swung  into  space, 
not  separately,  but  together,  each  on  its 
own  axis  but  all  moving  in  harmony  as  one. 
The  progress  of  the  soul  is  through  these 
spheres  up  to  the  highest  development, 
The  earth  is  the  material  or  lowest  form. 
We  have  often  wondered  why  Christ  came 
to  save  one  little  planet  when  He  seemed  to 
belong  equally  to  the  whole  Universe.  But 
it  seems  that  this  is  the  cradle  of  humanity, 
That  herein  was  established  the  race  of  men, 
an  independent  order  of  creation  that  was 
to  acquire  through  knowledge  of  sin  and 
pain  and  sacrifice,  a  strength  that  should 
fit  men  for  leadership  among  supermen. 
Jack's  mother  is  in  the  next  world,  and  from 
what  he  says  I  was  not  right  about  the 
manner  of  living.  His  mother  received 
him  in  a  home  where  other  members  of  the 


Thy  Son  Liveth  33 

family  were  waiting  for  him,  and  it  was 
just  a  happy  reunion.  While  he  was  con- 
scious that  they  had  all  passed  through  the 
experience  of  death,  he  could  not  really 
see  any  change  in  their  appearance.  They 
were  dressed  in  what  appeared  to  be  fabrics 
but  were  probably  vapor  stuff,  and  they 
seemed  to  eat  and  drink  and  live  much  as 
they  lived  on  earth.  It  is  said  that  business 
is  conducted  along  ideal  lines,  and  agriculture 
is  brought  to  perfection.  There  are  many 
chemists  and  inventors  at  work  to  develop 
resources,  and  as  the  different  globes  are 
intercommunicable,  the  earth  gets  the  benefit 
of  the  discoveries.  This  figure  is  often  used, 
and  I  guess  it  is  a  good  one.  Consider  the 
system  of  planets  all  incorporated  in  a  final 
atmospheric  envelope  as  so  many  rooms  in  a 
school.  All  doors  are  open  for  the  entrance 
and  exit  of  every  one,  high  or  low,  in  the 
whole  school :  the  separations  are  mental. 
A  pupil  can  jump  over  any  grade  if  he  has 
the  ability.  Those  who  qualify  on  earth 
can  enter  advanced  classes  or  conditions. 
The  return  or  reincarnation  of  a  spirit  is  a 
matter  concerning  which  I  am  not  informed. 
I  know  that  many  return  many  times. 
I  do  not  as  yet  understand  how  this  is  accom- 
plished, or  whether  it  is  voluntary  or  an 


34  Thy  Son  Liveth 

arbitrary  law.  I  hope  I  shall  not  have 
to  go  back.  I'd  rather  take  a  fling  among 
the  other  worlds.  I  could  not  be  your  boy ; 
and  I'd  rather  have  you  than  any  other 
mother. 

Jack's  mother  and  sister  are  teachers. 
It  is  the  business  of  those  who  are  familiar 
with  the  law  of  the  place  to  instruct  others. 
Ruth  Wells  was  killed  in  an  automobile 
accident  a  day  or  so  before  she  was  to  have 
been  married.  Her  lover  went  out  with 
the  Canadians  and  has  been  doing  great 
work  in  the  air.  He  came  out  (died)  while 
Jack  was  there,  and  he  came  straight  to 
Ruth  with  a  messenger  she  had  sent  to  watch 
for  his  arrival.  Now  they  are  incorporated 
in  one  form.  I  do  not  quite  understand 
this  yet.  I  shall  have  to  see  the  married 
to  know  what  that  means.  But  I  am  told 
that  a  man  and  woman  are  really  one. 
Each  half  of  a  whole.  When  they  are 
mates  they  are  united.  The  matter  of 
plural  marriages  is  settled  in  this  way.  The 
real  mates  are  brought  together.  The  others 
finding  their  complementary  selves.  It  is 
a  difficult  subject.  Better  leave  it  out  of 
the  question  until  I  get  it  in  clearer  shape. 
I  do  not  know  which  side  dominates  this 


Thy  Son  Liveth  35 

dual  personality.  I  talked  it  over  with  a 
group  of  fellows  here  —  those  who  have  just 
come  out  —  and  none  of  us  like  the  idea. 

You  ask  where  I  am  ?  I  am  right  now  in 
and  about  Verdun,  and  I  have  not  often 
been  away  from  my  division.  As  I  told 
you,  some  of  us  are  assigned  to  escort  duty. 
When  the  boys  come  west,  —  quote  that,  — 
we  meet  and  guide  them  across  the  Invisible 
Line.  Most  of  them  feel  perfectly  fit  when 
they  come.  But  some  few  are  confused  or 
frightened.  Particularly  about  the  sorrow 
of  those  they  leave  behind.  Try  and  make 
this  point  plain  to  the  families.  The  boys 
are  all  right.  Do  not  mourn  for  them. 
Every  tear  tortures  the  dead.  Know  that 
they  are  loving  their  folks  and  anticipating 
a  meeting.  I  must  go. 

The  most  important  thing  for  us  to  con- 
sider is  this :  We  are  just  as  much  alive  as 
we  ever  were,  and  the  ties  of  love  continue. 
This  does  not  necessarily  mean  the  ties  of 
relationship.  Love  is  the  dominating  force. 
For  instance,  the  fact  that  I  am  your  son, 
born  of  your  body,  is  not  the  thing  that  will 
unite  us  in  this  advanced  life.  .  There  is  a 
subtler  bond  which  has  nothing  to  do  with 


36  Thy  Son  Liveth 

consanguinity.  Spiritual  affiliation  or  sym- 
pathy is  about  what  that  is,  as  well  as  I 
can  make  out. 

But  I  am  not  yet  far  enough  advanced  to 
make  any  definite  or  authoritative  state- 
ment. I  only  want  to  start  this  whole 
propaganda  of  comfort  on  the  one  sure 
thing :  There  is  no  death. 

This  is  during  a  lull  in  a  battle.  I  inquired 
of  the  teacher  why  the  German  soldiers  are 
so  devoted  to  the  Kaiser,  how  blind  belief 
of  millions  came  to  be  fixed  on  this  one  weak 
madman.  For  he  is  a  lunatic.  It  was 
explained  that  a  Mesmeric  wave  has  swept 
Germania  from  the  throne  to  the  far  borders 
since  William's  grandfather  ruled.  Mesmer, 
the  Austrian,  set  forces  into  operation  then, 
which  he  has  maintained  since  through  the 
mind  of  the  present  Kaiser. 

I  do  not  know  whether  that  is  a  fact  of 
science  or  a  personal  opinion.  The  man 
who  told  me  is  a  stranger  to  me.  He  may 
not  have  any  real  information. 

Mother,  I  have  found  out  another  thing 
from  this  point  of  view.  There  is  little  or 
no  fear  of  death  among  men  who  go  into 
battle.  The  soul  seems  to  remember,  sud- 


Thy  Son  Liveth  37 

denly,  that  it  may  be  about  to  repeat  an 
interesting  experience.  The  physical  side 
of  the  soldier  is  dominated  by  the  spiritual 
and  carried  on  with  a  kind  of  thrilling  joy. 
The  meanest  man  sometimes  surprises  his 
comrades  by  exhibitions  of  courage.  This 
is  the  reason.  In  this  connection  I  must 
mention  Cooper.  You  will  remember  that 
I  wrote  you  about  him  when  I  enlisted : 
He  seemed  to  be  the  one  blot  on  our  regi- 
mental 'scutcheon.  A  sniveling  "willy  boy" 
who  was  afraid  to  go  home  in  the  dark.  We 
all  wondered  how  he  stood  the  examiner's 
gaff  and  was  accepted.  He  had  prayed, 
very  likely,  that  he  would  be  turned  down. 
Well,  he  came  west  since  I  last  wrote  you. 
I  happened  to  be  near  when  the  grenade 
fell  in  the  trench  and  saw  him  grab  it  in  his 
arms  and  scramble  out  with  it  before  it 
exploded.  He  saved  a  whole  company : 
among  them  many  wounded.  I  went  with 
him  over  the  top  and  yelled,  "Bully  for  you, 
Coop,  old  man ! "  Then  the  bomb  blew 
away  his  mortality,  and  he  saw  me.  We 
left  the  field  together,  and  I  took  him  back 
among  the  hills  where  the  particular  group 
of  helpers  headed  by  Jack  Wells  gave  him 
the  glad  hand.  He's  all  right  and  a  trump 
among  us.  Get  word  to  his  mother. 


38  Thy  Son  Liveth 

I  got  your  word  about  the  difficulties  you 
are  meeting  in  conveying  the  information. 
Isn't  it  curious  that  the  human  mind  in- 
stinctively rejects  the  easiest  answer  to  a 
problem?  Do  you  recall  how  we  laughed 
over  that  epitaph  on  a  little  white  gravestone 
in  New  England : 

"  Since  so  quickly  I  was  done  /or, 
I  wonder  what  I  was  begun  for?  " 

Well,  get  such  comfort  across  as  you  can, 
but  do  not  try  to  convince  any  one  that  you 
communicate  with  me.  You  would  probably 
be  carted  off  to  a  padded  cell  if  you  should 
tell  all  we  shall  talk  about.  For  I  feel  that 
we  shall  get  on  further  soon.  Wells  says  a 
new  company  is  to  relieve  us,  and  we  will 
"proceed  to  our  destination." 

Cooper  is  in  a  blue  funk  about  his  mother. 
She  is  frantic  with  grief,  and  he  cannot 
communicate  with  her.  She  is  like  many 
Christians.  She  subscribes  to  a  creed  — 
but  she  doesn't  believe  it.  If  she  would 
just  take  her  pencil  in  her  hand,  and  let 
Coop  do  the  rest!  Then  she  would  come 
to  know  that  her  son  and  all  the  other  sons 
are  living  and  only  kept  from  being  happy 
and  full  of  new  and  splendid  ambitions  by 


Thy  Son  Liveth  39 

the  tears  of  those  they  love  on  earth.  To 
mourn  is  natural :  but  it  really  isn't  natural 
to  be  hopeless. 

I  got  that  little  hint  you  wired  me  about 
knocking  Christians.  You  see  I  still  need 
your  bully  judgment.  I  remember  your 
little  old  tenet  that  no  cause  is  won  by  criti- 
cism. And  I  believe  we  have  a  cause, 
mother.  Of  course  this  matter  of  automatic 
writing,  as  you  call  it,  is  old  and  generally 
discredited.  Some  big,  independent  thinkers 
know  that  it  is  genuine  in  the  main.  But 
most  folks  are  from  Missouri.  You  have 
to  show  them  something  that  can't  be  shown 
to  material  senses  before  they  consent  to 
be  comforted.  Too  bad,  isn't  it  ? 

If  you  could  see  the  way  the  fellows  here 
feel,  you  would  know  why  I  harp  on  publicity 
for  this  scheme  of  communication.  There 
may  be  a  better  one.  But  I  don't  know 
about  it  yet.  Get  two  or  three  of  the  sanest 
women  you  know  who  have  lost  dear  ones, 
—  and  almost  every  one  has  or  will,  —  and 
persuade  them  to  try.  Show  them  how  you 
do.  Tell  them  there  is  no  mystery  or  flub- 
dub. Tackle  Mrs.  K.,  she  is  level-headed. 
Take  her  fully  into  your  confidence  —  show 


40  Thy  Son  Liveth 

her  these  letters  if  you  want  to.  Tell  her 
to  spread  the  truth.  You  know  how  you 
feel  when  you  have  been  cross  or  unjust,  or 
something  like  that,  to  some  one  you  really 
care  for.  You  can  hardly  wait  to  make 
up.  That's  the  trouble  on  both  sides  with 
those  who  cross  the  line  and  those  left  there. 
Grief  is  mostly  remorse  for  things  done  or 
left  undone,  and  there  is  no  chance  to  make 
up.  Coop  says  he  was  a  rotter  to  his  mother, 
and  he  has  lately  heard  her  crying  that  she 
had  been  harsh  with  him  when  he  was  a 
little  boy.  How  quickly  they  could  square 
things  if  she  only  knew  that  he  was  closer 
to  her  in  actual  presence  and  in  sympathy 
than  he  had  ever  been  before. 

I  want  to  speak  about  the  little  things 
that  rankle  in  your  heart.  You  remember 
when  you  spanked  me  with  the  hair-brush : 
and  a  thousand  wasps  of  memory  sting  you. 
Let's  laugh  !  Just  as  we  should  if  we  recalled 
them  together  when  you  could  see  me  grin. 
What  matters  now  —  and  always  —  is  that 
understanding  love  that  binds  us.  We  have 
the  particular  thing  that  will  bring  us  face 
to  face  again !  We  are  mother  and  son. 
But  we  are  more  than  that.  We  are  pals. 
That  is  what  counts.  I  have  been  told 


Thy  Son  Liveth  41 

this  by  an  instructor  from  Somewhere  in 
Space.  You  see  we  are  still  right  near  you 
in  the  envelope  of  the  earth,  assigned  to 
the  battle  fields  for  service  to  the  wounded 
and  the  dead.  Quote  "dead."  It  is  a 
misapplied  word.  But  just  as  French  officers 
are  being  sent  to  the  American  cantonments 
to  teach  advanced  methods  of  fighting  to 
our  troops,  so  experienced  teachers  on  this 
side  are  moving  among  us,  getting  us  ready 
to  meet  and  understand  new  conditions. 
They  look  like  and  they  are  men. 

As  far  as  I  can  make  out,  we  are  going  to 
a  very  real  world  :  a  globe  divided  into  parts 
of  land  and  water :  one  of  the  near  stars, 
maybe.  I'll  find  out  about  that.  We  are, 
I  am  informed,  much  the  same  as  we  were 
before  we  came ;  except  that  we  are  no  longer 
limited  or  hampered  by  the  flesh  and  bone 
body  we  formerly  occupied.  We  have  been 
"raised  spiritual  bodies"  just  like  the  old 
Book  says.  But  it  is  the  spirit  that  quick- 
eneth,  isn't  it?  So  there  you  are.  We  are 
still  folks  —  and  not  still  folks  either  — 
nobody  dumb  here,  as  far  as  I  can  learn. 

To  return  to  the  worlds.  I  hear  that  we 
are  to  swing  along  in  the  old  reliable  solar 


42  Thy  Son  Liveth 

system  with  the  rest  of  you.  It  seems 
Mother  Earth  has  all  the  time  been  wearing 
her  right  title.  I  have  heard  that  the  earth 
is  the  cradle,  or  the  incubator,  of  the  human 
race,  and  that  the  other  planets,  all  inter- 
communicable,  are  inhabited  by  those  who 
have  passed  through  the  earth  experience. 
There  may  be  other  Mother  planets.  I 
don't  know.  But  "His  kingdom  ruleth 
over  all." 

I  have  not  tried  to  write  you  lately,  because 
I  have  been  on  the  job  night  and  day.  The 
world  we  are  to  go  to  will  be  the  Country 
of  the  Young  in  fact.  So  many  boys  are 
coming  out.  And  they  are  all  right.  Do  get 
that  word  across.  Do  make  it  your  business 
to  get  that  across.  The  one  thing  that 
troubles  the  men  who  come  here  is  the  fact 
that  the  ones  that  love  them  are  in  agony. 
Get  around  on  that  side  of  the  question  with 
your  old  pluck  and  tell  the  mothers  and 
fathers  and  sisters  and  wives  to  stop  crying. 
No  man  can  stand  the  sight  of  tears,  the 
sound  of  sobs.  They  feel  it  much  worse 
here,  because  they  can't  get  in  touch  to  com- 
fort. It's  awful.  It  will  seem  queer  when 
I  say  that  we  don't  bother  much  about  any 
physical  pain  our  folks  suffer.  That  is  a 


Thy  Son  Liveth  43 

transitory  thing.  We  know  it  for  what  it 
is.  But  we  are  still  capable  of  mental 
anguish.  That  is  the  hell-material.  And 
every  tear  shed  on  earth  falls  on  a 
heart  here.  A  wail  is  continually  com- 
ing to  us  from  every  side.  Have  them 
stop  it. 

I  know  you  can't  do  much  toward  spread- 
ing this  truth.  But  do  something.  What 
do  you  care  what  the  neighbors  think? 
If  a  few  really  get  in  touch  with  us  the  news 
will  spread.  Tell  them  there  is  nothing 
solemn  and  mysterious  about  it.  Get  a 
number  of  women  together.  I'll  come  and 
bring  an  operator.  Did  I  explain?  If  you 
can't  send  messages  yourself  and  some  can- 
not now,  —  you  transmit  them  just  as  we 
do  when  we  drop  into  a  Western  Union  or 
Postal  and  write  out  our  night  letters. 
You  are  a  good  receiver  because  we  had  all 
that  wireless  work  together  when  I  was  a 
kid.  Get  the  women :  not  the  highbrows 
who  know  too  much  to  believe  anything 
as  natural  as  inter-space  communication. 
But  simple,  homey  mothers.  I  was  wrong 
about  Mrs.  K.  Too  much  learning  has 
made  her  mad.  Think  of  some  one  simpler, 
more  convincible. 


44  Thy  Son  Liveth 

Make  it  plain  that  this  communication  is 
given  from  my  mind  to  yours  as  plainly  as 
an  old  man  at  26  Broadway  talks  to  his 
secretary  about  other  invisible  riches.  Better 
not  say  that.  What  I  want  to  do  is  to  rid 
this  system  of  all  its  bewildering  and  mystic 
features.  Make  an  engagement  for  me : 
I'll  attend,  mentally ;  then  sit  down  and  take 
my  messages  openly,  before  folks.  Every 
one  fears  the  unknown  and  minimizes  the 
commonplace. 

The  limitations  of  the  human  vision  and 
the  circumscribed  range  of  the  human  per- 
ception of  sound  are  what  separate  us. 
Not  that  we  are  forever,  even  in  thought, 
hovering  around  our  folks  on  earth.  That 
would  be  rather  horrid,  wouldn't  it?  We 
observe  proprieties  and  wait  for  invitations. 
Just  while  we  are  trying  to  establish 
communications,  we  are  making  frequent 
calls.  After  that  we  go  about  our  business 
and  send  our  messages  by  operators  from 
wherever  we  may  be  —  and  we'll  make  visits 
as  boys  go  home  at  Christmas  or  birthdays. 
If  you  send  very  urgent  calls,  we  must 
answer.  But  you  will  not  do  this  when 
you  know  that  we  have  important  work  to 
do  in  our  environment.  I  do  not  know 


Thy  Son  Liveth  45 

as  yet  what  it  is  to  be  in  my  case.  It  may 
be  electrical  engineering  or  some  wireless 
telegraph  development.  I  hope  it  may  be 
something  that  will  lead  to  an  understand- 
ing between  the  worlds. 

You  ask  who  else  are  here  beside  the  sol- 
diers. In  this  particular  group  are  only  the 
men  and  women  assigned  to  field  service. 
Mostly  soldiers  and  Red  Cross  nurses.  But 
we  have  encountered  many  women  on  the 
battleground  and  among  the  wounded.  These 
are  mothers  and  wives  who  are  on  this  side, 
and  they  look  after  their  own.  I  am  told 
that  the  war  has  called  all  these  spiritual 
forces  into  action.  There  is  a  mobilization 
here  of  the  generation  immediately  con- 
nected with  the  troops,  —  fathers  and 
mothers  and  near  of  kin,  —  to  attend  these 
boys  and  to  bring  them  out. 

We  are  still  in  the  earth  envelopment. 
Jack  Wells  says  we  may  be  transferred  to 
America.  I  would  give  anything  for  a 
little  fore  knowledge  now.  But  we  have 
not  progressed  far  enough  to  claim  that. 
Of  course  our  intuitions  are  sharper  than 
they  were  before  we  came  out.  That  is 
about  all.  And  we  all  think  that  America 


46  Thy  Son  Liveth 

is  covered  by  a  net  of  German  treachery  and 
an  unthought-of  danger  from  within.  There 
are  cunning  devils,  in  the  flesh  and  out  of 
it,  conspiring  against  the  United  States. 
This  young  giant-land  of  ours  must  not  be 
beaten.  The  final  victory  must  be  with 
our  flag.  Let  the  women  stand  by.  Beg 
them  to  do  as  you  are  doing.  Yes,  I  know. 
Have  them  sell  their  jewelry  and  pour 
every  luxury  into  the  war  fund.  I'll  tell 
you  all  I  learn  from  time  to  time. 

A  fellow  of  the Marine  Corps  has  just 

come  to  this  rest  station  with  a  girl.  He  is 
dazed  and  does  not  seem  to  recognize  her. 
She  is  a  schoolmate  of  his,  and  very  likely 
has  kept  a  little  romance  folded  away  in 
her  soul.  I  hope  he  will  recall  her  when  he 
gets  his  bearings.  She  has  been  on  this 
side  for  several  years.  Seeing  her  around 
him  makes  me  think  I'd  like  to  have  a  pretty 
little  thing  like  that  fluttering  around  me. 

Mother,  dear,  when  you  are  writing  for 
me,  be  rather  careful  not  to  interpolate. 
You  do  not,  much.  But  we  want  this  to  be 
pretty  direct,  don't  we?  Our  only  object 
now  is  to  get  this  comfort,  —  this  possi- 
bility of  communication  between  the  seen 


Thy  Son  Liveth  47 

and  unseen  living,  —  to  those  that  mourn. 
You  do  not  feel  any  fatigue  or  strain,  do 
you  ?  Your  arm  does  not  get  numb  ?  Why 
should  there  be  any  effect  of  that  sort? 
This  is  simply  thought  transference,  dicta- 
tion. A  perfectly  natural  thing.  Induce 
others  to  get  into  communication  with  these 
boys  who  want  to  butt  in  while  I  talk  to 
you.  I  am  besieged  to  give  you  addresses. 
But  if  you  can  get  any  publisher  to  take  these 
notes,  I  guess  that  will  be  the  best  way  to 

get  an  audience.     Try or .     They 

are  both  good  firms  and  liberal  thinkers. 

I  hope  I  can  go  on  before  long  where  I  can 
get  into  working  harness.  I  believe  my  mind 
is  going  to  be  clearer  and  quicker  to  act  than 
formerly.  I  mean  to  work  on  devices  to 
combat  the  German  machines.  If  I  succeed 
I'll  get  in  touch  with  Edison,  if  he  is  still 
in  the  game  there.  In  the  meantime  I'll 
attend  to  my  job  of  easing  the  hurts  made 
by  the  guns.  We  have  been  taught  to  do 
that;  otherwise  there  would  be  great  suf- 
fering. I  must  go  now. 

We  are  immediately  going  to  start  for 
the  Outside.  Other  companies  have  come 
to  take  our  places  on  the  field.  I  am  dis- 


48  Thy  Son  Liveth 

tinctly  agitated.  Do  not  know  whether  I 
shall  be  able  to  get  in  touch  with  you  or 
not.  Shall  certainly  try.  Anyway,  you  will 
know  that  I  am  all  right,  and  that  some  day 
we  are  going  to  be  together  again.  Be  a 
game  little  sport,  and  don't  cry.  I'll  feel 
your  tears  if  you  do.  And  they  will  make 
me  wretched.  Everything  is  all  right.  No 
doubt,  whatever.  I  hope  that  I  shall  be 
able  to  visit  you.  Anyway,  we  are  mother 
and  son  and  —  pals,  always. 

I  am  still  in  the  atmosphere.  We  had 
prepared  to  leave  for  a  destination  unnamed  : 
for  others  arrived  to  take  our  places  as  helpers 
on  the  battle  field.  Some  men,  or  I  suppose 
they  are  angels,  came  to  act  as  our  escort. 
Jack  Wells  got  our  particular  bunch  —  about 
forty  —  into  shape,  and  we  stood  in  march- 
ing formation  on  a  little  hill  until  the  word 
was  given  to  start.  We  did  not  fly  or  float 
or  anything  like  that.  We  just  marched  at 
a  good  rattling  pace.  The  only  thing  strange 
about  it  was  that  we  did  not  mind  such 
natural  obstacles  as  forests  or  rivers,  but 
went  right  along  through  or  over  them. 
This  was  the  case  out  of  doors.  But  we 
did  not  pass  through  closed  buildings  or 
walls.  At  all  times  we  looked  for  the  open- 


Thy  Son  Liveth  49 

ings  or  gates.  I  asked  the  man  (angel) 
about  whether  we  had  really  bulk  or  weight. 
He  answered  me.  But  I  cQdn't  understand 
well  enough  to  make  it  clear,  I  am  afraid. 
I  think  he  meant  that  our  bodies  are  heavier, 
or  denser,  than  air.  As  these  facts  are  made 
known  to  me,  I  will  tell  you.  We  passed 
through  several  villages,  one  of  which  I 
had  seen  on  the  way  to  the  line.  It  had 
been  shelled  and  destroyed.  There  were 
human  bodies  everywhere.  They  looked 
like,  and  were,  no  more  than  so  many  aban- 
doned shells  or  coverings.  From  this  point 
of  view  there  is  no  more  in  death  than  re- 
moval from  one  house  to  another.  In  most 
cases  the  separation  of  the  soul  and  body  was 
complete.  Where  there  was  still  some  cling- 
ing to  the  body  on  the  part  of  the  self,  some 
of  us  waited  to  comfort  and  cheer.  Now  and 
then  we  came  across  a  frightened  or  dazed 
spirit :  and  we  helped  there.  But  there 
were  many  men  and  women  from  this  side 
present  among  the  ruins,  and  their  special 
care  seemed  to  be  the  children.  Some 
beings  (angels)  literally  carry  the  little 
ones  on  their  bosoms. 

I  had  supposed  that  we  would  leave  the 
atmosphere  of  the  earth  by  ascending  into 
higher  regions.  We  are  all  more  or  less 


50  Thy  Son  Liveth 

influenced  by  Raphael's  "Ascension",  I 
suppose.  But  it  seems  that  there  are  points 
of  egress  reached  by  defined  channels.  Ports 
of  departure.  At  present  I  cannot  tell  you 
where  the  one  we  were  assigned  to  is  located, 
because  we  were  recalled.  And  the  manner 
of  the  recalling  will  interest  you.  The  march 
was  well  under  way  when  there  was  an  order 
to  "right  about  face"  and  we  started  back. 
Jack  Wells  was  marching  with  the  Man  in 
command,  —  I  have  not  yet  learned  his 
name  or  what  to  call  him,  —  when  he  turned 
around  and  said  he  had  orders  to  return. 
How  he  got  the  orders  puzzled  me.  There 
were  no  messengers  or  mechanical  means 
like  telephones  or  wireless.  But  it  seems 
we  acquire  the  ability  to  hear  anything  ad- 
dressed to  us,  personally,  through  any 
amount  of  space.  That  is  how  you  reach 
us.  And  what  we  are  trying  to  do  now  is 
to  have  you  hear  us  as  well  as  we  hear  you. 
Please  italicize  this  when  you  print  what  I 
say.  I  wish  you  would  read  Swedenborg 
again,  and  compare  what  he  says  with  what 
I  may  be  able  to  tell  you.  You  remember 
we  read  a  book  of  his  together  that  winter 
I  had  to  stay  indoors.  I  hope  to  see  some 
of  our  great  forces  over  on  this  side,  or  be- 
yond this  particular  side,  as  I  progress. 


Thy  Son  Liveth  51 

Just  when  that  will  be  I  cannot  guess.  It 
seems  we  are  still  needed  on  the  battle  fields 
where  our  work  is  to  ease  the  wounded. 
This  we  are  able  to  do.  Emphasize  this, 
mother.  For  every  boy  that  is  hurt  or  terri- 
fied, there  is  a  comforter.  I  wrote  you  that 
we  hear,  continually,  that  the  Savior  is 
often  seen  on  the  fields.  I  have  not  dared 
to  look,  sometimes,  when  I  have  felt,  rather 
than  seen,  a  strange  soft  light.  I  am  not 
ready  to  look  just  now.  But  there  is  no 
doubt  but  that  He  moves  among  the  soldiers. 
I  am  called  away. 

I  get  all  your  messages,  mother.  I  can 
only  answer  a  few  questions.  Partly  be- 
cause I  am  not  yet  sure  of  many  things  here 
and  partly  because  there  seems  to  be  no 
means  of  communication  concerning  cer- 
tain conditions.  That  is :  when  we  get 
beyond  the  usual,  we  are  beyond  the  common 
medium  of  language.  The  words  we  know 
are  inadequate  to  express  our  revelations. 
Of  course  until  we  move  on  into  the  Big 
Places,  we  are  really  on  almost  the  same 
footing  as  though  I  too  were  in  the  flesh. 
But  when  the  Big  Places  are  reached,  I  shall 
have  more  difficulty  in  conveying  my  in- 
formation. At  least,  so  I  suppose.  Now 


52  Thy  Son  Liveth 

I  am  to  continue  in  the  ether  for  a  time 
anyway.  Ought  to  pick  up  considerable 
news  for  you.  If  I  dwell  on  things  that  seem 
the  least  important,  perhaps  it  is  because 
of  this  angle  of  vision.  Now  the  all  impor- 
tant matter  to  the  boys  here  is  to  have  their 
folks  know  that  they  are  alive  and  well  and 
filled  with  intense  enthusiasm  and  ambition. 
Take  up  the  Bible  and  read  it  with  this 
that  I  am  telling  you  in  mind.  I  expect, 
as  time  goes  on,  I  shall  be  able  to  describe 
scenes  and  customs  to  you,  —  after  the 
manner  of  the  observant  traveler,  —  but 
now  what  you  must  learn  is  this :  In  this 
intermediate  place  which  is  neither  wholly 
material  nor  wholly  spiritual,  we  are  busy 
and  so  happy,  or  would  be  if  it  were  not 
for  the  sobs  and  tears  of  our  folks.  Please 
do  not  give  way  to  sadness,  mother.  And 
for  heaven's  sake  (this  is  literally  for  heaven's 
sake)  beg  the  mourners  to  stop  crying,  and 
to  cease  wearing  black  clothes. 

We  have  returned  to  our  former  quarters 
on  a  hill  above  Verdun.  The  fighting  is 
continual,  and  there  is  much  for  us  to  do. 
Many  are  coming  out.  Charlie  Spenser 
came  wandering  across  the  field  in  a  dazed 
sort  of  way.  He  was  glad  to  see  me  -and 


Thy  Son  Liveth  53 

did  not  dream  that  I  had  been  changed. 
He  is  not  reconciled  to  death  because  he  is 
in  love  with  a  girl  on  earth.  That  seems 
to  break  up  the  philosophy.  A  man  can 
leave  every  one  else  with  resigned  calmness 
but  the  one  girl  he  loves.  He  is  in  great 
mental  agony,  and  I  am  going  to  get  one  of 
our  instructors  to  take  him  hi  hand. 

The  angel  came  into  my  tent  and  talked 
with  Spenser.  I  have  got  to  get  what  he 
said  clear  in  my  mind  before  I  transmit  it 
to  you ;  the  purport  of  it  is  simply  this : 
Each  created  being  is  the  half  of  another 
created  being.  When  these  two  halves  are 
brought  together,  it  is  marriage.  There 
may  be  many  alliances  in  a  person's  life. 
But  only  one  marriage.  That  sounds  like 
the  affinity  business  we  heard  so  much  of 
at  one  time.  But  you  would  not  think  it 
sounded  that  way  if  you  heard  this  angel 
explain  it.  I'll  get  down  to  his  real  mean- 
ing and  write  more. 

This  is  it.  There  are  no  separations  of 
those  who  belong  together.  Emphasize  "be- 
long." Spenser's  girl  will  come  to  him  here  if 
she  is  his  other  half,  and  their  marriage  will 
be  consummated  in  heaven.  I  asked  the 


54  Thy  Son  Liveth 

angel  what  if  the  girl  should  marry,  and  he 
surprised  me  by  saying  she  probably  would, 
certainly  should  do  so.  That  she  should 
fulfill  the  law  of  her  being  on  earth  by  wife 
and  motherhood.  That  accomplished,  she 
will  find  her  spiritual  mate  and  the  man 
who  had  been  her  husband  on  earth  will 
find  his  own  complementary  self.  It  all 
sounded  simple  and  rather  familiar.  I  think 
you  will  not  be  shocked  when  you  really 
consider  that  we  are  not  dealing  with  the 
ephemeral  life  of  the  body  but  of  the  eternal 
verity,  the  soul.  There  are  some  things 
I  want  to  ask  the  Man  when  I  can  screw 
my  courage  to  the  sticking  point.  Among 
them  is  whether  one  who  has  not  been  in 
love,  as  we  say,  on  earth,  can  expect  such 
an  experience  here.  I  will  find  out  and  let 
you  know. 

I  get  any  thought,  I  suppose,  that  is 
directed  to  me.  I  cannot  undertake  to 
say  how  or  why.  In  fact  I  am  not  informed 
as  to  these  things.  I  do  not  know  why  any 
more  than  I  knew,  in  class,  why  one  ray  of 
light  was  white  and  one  was  violet.  I  read 
what  the  scientists  said,  of  course,  and  let 
it  go  at  that.  Their  facts  did  not  dent  my 
understanding. 


Thy  Son  Liveth  55 

If  ever  I  send  another  message  to  our 
old  neighbors,  after  this  is  done,  I  am  going 
to  urge  them  to  open  their  minds  to  many 
things.  From  this  point  of  view  I  am  pretty 
sure  that  however  wild  a  proposition  may 
appear  to  be,  it  is  certain  to  contain  an  ele- 
ment of  truth.  If  millions  of  dusty  papers 
lost  on  the  shelves  of  the  Patent  Office 
might  be  brought  out,  I  have  no  doubt 
that  old  What's-his-name  would  find  among 
them  a  fulcrum  to  fit  his  lever,  so  he  could 
go  about  moving  the  earth.  That  reminds 
me  that  we  must  not  stop  pushing  these 
facts  over  prejudices  and  difficulties.  Get 
them  boiled  down  to  the  utmost  simplicity. 
To  a  sentence,  if  you  can.  Life  is  continu- 
ous and  souls  go  marching  on.  That's  the 
big  truth.  All  other  things  can  be  added 
unto  it.  Many  things  I  say  are  not  authori- 
tative. But  this  thing  is.  Look  in  the 
Bible,  with  these  spectacles  on,  and  see.  As 
far  as  modes  of  living,  habits  of  angels, 
philosophies  and  opinions,  my  reports  are 
likely  to  be  as  accurate  as  the  average  travel- 
er's in  an  unfamiliar  country.  But  I'll 
correct  any  misstatement  as  I  go  on  and 
learn  more.  Our  main  business,  now, 
is  to  establish  definite  lines  of  communi- 
cation. 


56  Thy  Son  Liveth 

The  fighting  has  swung  back  to  about  the 
place  where  I  fell.  Think  of  me  as  doing  a 
man's  part  still,  right  in  the  battle.  We  do 
not  fight.  We  form  the  relief  division  and 
bring  comfort  and  aid  to  the  wounded. 
Many  of  the  soldiers  see  us;  that  does  not 
mean,  always,  that  they  are  dying  men. 
They  seem  to  have  supernormal  vision. 
I  do  not  like  that  word.  But  let  it  go. 

I  was  easing  a  boy  in  my  arms;  but  he 
was  very  young,  and  he  wanted  his  mother. 
I  could  not  comfort  him.  Some  One  beside 
me  said:  "I  will  take  him."  I  could  not 
look  up.  But  I  knew  Who  it  was.  Let 
mothers  hear  of  this. 

Please  do  not  elaborate  anything  I  tell 
you,  dear.  I  must  go.  A  whole  battalion 
is  coming  out. 

I  have  not  met  any  relatives.  You  know 
we  are  still  on  earth.  Some  of  the  boys 
who  have  folks  in  far  places  get  leave  to 
go  and  see  them.  But  I  feel  that  my  job 
is  right  here.  Awhile  ago  I  lifted  up  a 
wounded  color-bearer,  and  together  we  kept 
the  flag  from  touching  the  ground.  That 
seemed  to  be  his  main  idea.  I  held  him  until 


A-  Thy  Son  Liveth  57 

relief  came  and  promised  to  wait  in  case  he 
should  come  west.  But  he  is  to  recover.  A 
girl  from  the  Red  Cross  hospital  was  working 
alone,  plucky  as  any  one,  regardless  of  the 
fact  that  a  counter-charge  of  glorious  furies 
in  horizon  blue  had  cut  her  off  from  her 
friends.  A  shell  struck  her;  and  later  she 
let  me  guide  her  into  the  Quiet.  She  looks 

like  one  of  the  McL girls.     But  she  is 

dazed  and  can't  tell  her  name.  She'll  be 
all  right  soon. 

I  cannot  tell  when  it  will  end.  When  or 
how.  No  one  but  God  knows  what  plan  is 
being  evolved  from  this  chaos  of  worlds.  Do 
not  put  any  faith  in  prophecies  except  those 
in  the  Book.  I  mean  the  Bible.  I  am  not 
guiding  your  hand.  Can't  you  understand  ? 
My  thoughts  flow  into  your  mind,  and  your 
thoughts  flow  into  my  mind.  Get  some 
figure  —  the  movement  of  tides,  maybe, 
to  fix  this  truth.  Back  and  forth,  carrying 
and  releasing,  delivering  to  and  acquiring 
from  the  shores. 

We  are  getting  on  famously,  and  as  we 
progress  I  think  we  shall  discover  even  greater 
facilities  for  expression.  I  think  communi- 
cation would  have  been  established  and 


58  Thy  Son  Liveth 

accepted  as  a  perfectly  natural  thing  if  the 
human  mind  had  not  opposed  so  many  ob- 
stacles. Humanity  makes  images  to  repre- 
sent God,  invents  machinery  to  improve  on 
His  gift  of  perception,  and  refuses  to  credit 
voices  and  visions  that  are  not  man  made. 
Better  cut  them  (obstacles)  out.  Criticism 
does  not  land  us  anywhere. 

I  am  so  busy  that  I  do  not  think  of  saying 
the  loving  things  I  know  you  long  to  hear. 
But  I  never  loved  you  better  than  I  do  now. 
I  know  more  about  you,  and  about  mothers 
everywhere. 

The  Red  Cross  girl  that  I  brought  across 

the  line  is  not  one  of  the  McL s.     But 

she  is  pretty  and  jolly  and  a  bear  for  work. 
She  is  constantly  with  us  on  the  field.  Her 
folks  live  in  Wisconsin,  but  she  says  they 
will  have  to  wait  until  they  come  here  before 
they  learn  that  it  is  well  with  her.  They 
believe  in  the  immortality  of  the  soul.  But 
proof  of  then-  belief  scares  them.  Her  name 
is  Ann.  Sometimes  she  hears  her  mother 
cry.  Then  it  is  hard  for  her. 

Many  women  are  here  now.  And  their 
work  is  mostly  among  the  babies  and  young 


Thy  Son  Liveth  59 

slain.  There  are  lots  of  these.  The  little 
chaps  are  very  popular.  A  nursery  has 
been  built  on  a  shady  hill.  We  have  the 
same  sun  and  planets  that  light  you. 

Women  and  men  work  together  in  natural 
harmony.  There  are  preferences  and  avoid- 
ances and  some  sweethearting.  But  for 
the  most  part  the  business  in  hand  occupies 
all  of  us.  I  do  not  know  how  it  will  be  as 
we  go  on  further.  This  is  a  great  receiving 
camp.  It  looks  as  though  it  had  been  chosen 
by  engineers  and  established  as  a  model  can- 
tonment. I  am  impressed  with  the  system 
that  does  not  intrude  itself  as  system. 
Yes.  We  dress  and  undress.  There  is  a 
general  commissary  who  issues  our  clothes 
in  military  fashion.  I  do  not  know  how  they 
are  originally  obtained.  At  first  the  stuff 
felt  different  from  the  material  of  the  uni- 
form I  shed  in  Flanders.  But  now  I  do  not 
notice  anything  peculiar  about  it.  Maybe 
I  am  used  to  it,  and  have  forgotten  the  old. 

I  know  you  miss  me,  mother.  And  that 
you  are  very  anxious  to  come  on.  But  sit 
tight  until  you  get  the  signal.  Sit  tight, 
do  you  hear  me,  dear?  And  warn  all  with 
whom  you  talk  against  suicide.  I  do  not 


60  Thy  Son  Liveth 

gather  from  what  I  hear  that  curses  afflict 
any  poor  soul  that  makes  that  mistake. 
But  the  self-inflicted  death  disarranges  and 
delays  the  plans  that  are  being  shaped  for 
the  individual.  Every  detail  of  life  is  worked 
out  with  a  thoroughness  only  possible  in 
spiritual  geometry.  A  sudden  break  neces- 
sitates rebuilding  the  whole  theory.  It  may 
require  skill  for  you  to  tell  what  you  have 
to  tell  and  yet  restrain  broken-hearted  ones 
from  throwing  themselves  across  the  invis- 
ible line.  Of  course,  they  want  to  rejoin 
their  darlings.  But  that  will  be  later.  No 
one  is  received  here  now  except  soldiers 
assigned  to  duty  and  men  and  women  of  the 
Red  Cross  and  military,  and  those  who  come 
from  the  war  zone  with  death. 

A  great  thing  has  developed  and  it  shows 
which  way  the  winds  of  God  begin  to  blow. 
I  have  been  assigned  to  pick  up  wireless 
from  the  enemy  lines  and  transmit  it  to  the 
Allies.  I've  worked  the  clock  around  on 
this.  Every  chance  has  been  given  the  Hun 
to  fight  a  fair  fight.  Now,  it  seems,  the 
angels  are  arming  against  him. 

There  is  no  curse  attached  to  anything, 
as  far  as  I  can  find  out.  Laws  are  finely 


Thy  Son  Liveth  61 

adjusted,  and  their  principles  are  immutable, 
in  the  main.  But  God  can  change  laws, 
even  His  own.  There  is  nothing  in  all  the 
worlds  to  handicap  the  big  race  the  soul 
makes  for  perfection.  We,  here,  are  in  the 
very  beginning  of  it.  The  girl,  Ann,  says 
the  immensity  of  the  work  ahead  would 
appall  her  mother  more  than  the  threat  of 
hell.  She  is  so  tired.  You  and  your  kind 
do  not  really  know  that  the  world  is  full  of 
toil-tired  women.  So  tired  that  they  hate 
the  thought  of  heaven  unless  it  means  rest. 
After  all  it  is  not  for  us  to  map  heaven.  I 
do  not  know  what  or  where  it  is,  or  if  there 
is  such  a  state.  We  just  want  to  tell  what 
we  do  know.  And  that  is,  Life  is  not  snuffed 
out  by  war  or  any  other  calamity.  The 
Hun  cannot  kill  the  soul  of  a  woman  or  a 
tree  or  himself. 

None  of  my  statements  about  less  impor- 
tant matters  are  to  be  taken  as  certainties 
unless  I  quote  our  instructors.  They  may 
not  be  infallible,  but  I  presume  they  are. 
But  this  is  our  big  fact :  I  am  really,  vitally 
alive.  All  others  who  have  passed  the 
change  called  death  are  alive  and  progress- 
ing toward  fuller  life.  Harp  on  that  string. 
Keep  at  it.  Do  not  let  your  mind  become 


62  Thy  Son  Liveth 

discouraged  or  confused.  Nothing  that  I 
can  write  you  is  of  any  importance  compared 
to  this.  I  am  called  away. 

I  know  what  you  are  up  against.  You 
are  in  for  ridicule  and  the  sort  of  publicity 
that  is  hardest  to  bear.  But  have  at  it.  Get 
the  word  across.  Don't  fix  up  my  notes 
much.  Let  them  smash  away  as  they  come 
right  off  the  bat.  They  are  not  only  to  com- 
fort the  people  there,  but  to  relieve  the  boys 
here.  They  worry  like  the  deuce  over  their 
folks.  Some  few  who  know  what  we  are 
doing  are  after  me  all  the  time  to  help  them 
get  in  touch  with  their  own.  They  make 
constant  efforts  to  communicate. 

Think  of  the  situation  this  way :  A  child 
(for  instance)  is  screaming  and  sobbing  in 
the  terrors  of  nightmare.  His  mother  tries 
to  waken  him,  to  reassure  him,  and  tell  him 
that  he  is  safe  in  her  arms,  against  her 
breast,  that  all  is  right.  But  she  cannot 
make  him  listen  and  understand.  There 
you  have  it.  It's  the  same  thing,  exactly. 
Wake  them  up,  mother.  Hush  their  sobs. 
The  Everlasting  arms  are  not  failing.  All 
is  well.  "If  it  were  not  so  I  would  have 
told  you. " 


Thy  Son  Liveth  63 

Don't  argue.  We  cannot  convince  any 
one  against  his  will.  Let  him  believe  or 
deny.  You  are  only  a  messenger.  One 
accepts  the  heartease  you  offer,  or  he  does 
not.  Perhaps  by  the  time  this  page  is 
printed,  the  light-which-is-to-be  will  be 
shining  on  the  earth.  Undoubtedly  the 
mystery  that  befogs  us  is  likely  to  be  soon 
lifted. 

The  work  of  the  young  girls  on  the  battle 
field  is  a  revelation.  They  are  the  same 
kind  of  girls  that  you  used  to  have  out  for 
the  week-ends :  pretty  and  cultivated  and 
all  that.  But  they  have  gone  through  some 
sort  of  transformation  while  they  are  still 
in  the  flesh.  That  is,  the  little,  tinkly 
garments  of  silliness  have  dropped  away 
and  left  fine  spirit.  But  the  women  at  home 
are  not  doing  enough.  The  sacrifice  has 
got  to  be  made.  Every  one  will  be  stripped 
down  to  soul  before  this  is  all  done.  Don't 
talk  of  houses  and  jewels  and  servants 
and  lands  when  men  are  rebuilding  the 
foundations  of  the  earth  with  their  bare 
hands. 

Yes.  We  sleep  and  waken  refreshed, 
I'm  told  we  shall  require  food  as  we  go  on, 


64  Thy  Son  Liveth 

Jack's  father  and  mother  live  in  a  house  and 
have  food  and  water.  I  think  we  absorb 
water,  mostly.  But  when  we  pass  springs, 
I  stoop  to  drink. 

The  instructor  (angel)  whom  I  told  you 
about  is  getting  Charlie  Spenser  into  line. 
He  has  made  it  clear  that  there  can  be 
no  permanent  separation  of  two  parts  of  a 
whole.  It  appears  that  every  one  is  or  will 
be  married.  The  twain  shall  be  one  spirit. 
I  judge  from  his  statement  that  marriage 
is  consummated  here. 

You  wonder  how  we  stand  the  cursings 
that  we  must  hear  ?  I  am  told  that  all  such 
sounds  are  produced  by  the  gasses  of  terror 
and  are  a  part  of  the  crashing  and  rending 
of  tortured  souls.  I  do  not  believe  the 
Divine  Intelligence  regards  these  explosions. 
Of  course  we  are  punished  for  defiance  of 
law.  That  goes  on  in  all  parts  of  the  spiritual 
as  well  as  the  material  worlds.  But  (and 
I  want  to  go  cautiously  here  because  I  am 
not  sure  that  I  have  cinched  the  big  idea) 
some  of  our  worst  old  sins  show  up  small 
in  comparison  with  others  that  we  have 
been  rather  proud  of,  and  referred  to  as 
"faults."  I  can't  say  what  they  are.  I 
suppose  each  fellow  knows  his  own. 


Thy  Son  Liveth  65 

Too  bad  that  you  are  not  able  to  convince 
Cooper's  mother  that  he  is  all  right.  He  is 
more  than  all  right.  And  he  may  serve  to 
illustrate  a  point  I  indicated  recently.  You 
know  how  weak  he  used  to  be,  and  dissipated  ? 
Rather  worthless  and  all  that?  Well,  he 
is  one  of  the  most  esteemed  men  here.  Of 
course,  he  proved  that  he  had  courage  when 
he  hopped  out  of  the  trench  with  that  gre- 
nade and  saved  his  company.  I  told  you 
about  it.  But  he  has  a  quality,  a  kind  of 
compassion  for  all  men,  that  makes  him  tower 
above  the  rest  of  us.  It  is  hard  to  take  the 
measure  of  a  man.  There  are  so  many 
bewildering  standards.  It's  rather  easier 
here.  1 

Our  use  of  the  terms  "here"  and  "there" 
is  likely  misleading.  At  this  stage,  as  I 
have  explained,  we  are  not  separated  from 
you ;  I  mean  that  we  are  not  removed  from 
the  influences  and  conditions  of  the  earth. 
I  do  not  know  how  to  search  for  expressions 
that  will  convey  the  truth  simply  to  all  who 
may  read  these  letters.  If  we  are  going  to 
get  to  the  people  with  this,  we  must  take 
some  steps  to  interest  a  publisher.  How 

would  it  do  to  see  ?  Better  think  it 

over.  I  cannot  advise.  My  judgment  is 
no  good. 


Thy  Son  Liveth 


We  do  not  know  when  we  are  to  be  sent 
on  to  some  other  field.  You  remember 
we  were  once  recalled  when  we  had  almost 
reached  an  important  port  of  departure 
from  this  environment.  The  subject  of 
these  points  of  egress  interests  me  greatly. 
It  seems  that  there  are  certain  defined 
avenues  of  intercommunication.  We  do  not 
fly  up  and  into  some  other  sphere.  We 
travel  by  established  channels.  I  am  very 
anxious  to  find  out  just  what  this  means, 
and  I  shall  hope  to  let  you  know.  There 
must  be  some  reason  why,  of  all  the  millions 
who  have  passed  the  lines,  no  one  has  defined 
the  boundaries  of  the  unseen  worlds.  We 
talk  the  matter  over,  here,  and  have  about 
agreed  that  language  becomes  inadequate, 
or  we  enter  upon  untranslatable  conditions. 
Then,  too,  we  may  begin  to  count  time  by 
the  thousand-year  schedule.  With  the  reali- 
zation that  you  will  soon  be  with  us,  we  do 
not  think  to  send  you  descriptions  of  what 
you  are  to  see.  One  thing  we  must  not  lose 
sight  of.  This  is  the  land  of  the  living,  and 
the  loved  ones  are  safe. 

I  picked  up  a  kitten  in  my  tent.  An  angel 
who  was  passing  told  me,  quietly,  to  put  it 
down.  There  was  something  curious  in 


Thy  Son  Liveth  67 

his  look.  I  did  not  quite  get  it.  You  will 
be  interested  in  this.  But  help  me  to  keep 
our  subject  clear.  It  is  easy  to  wander  off 
into  mazes  of  danger,  although  there  is  a 
perfectly  straight,  clean  path  to  follow,  if 
one  will.  I  think  it  important  for  you  to 
warn  people  of  this  danger.  It  is,  I  am  told, 
particularly  apparent  in  this  zone.  However, 
in  any  zone  the  soul  carries  its  own  means 
of  defense. 

Souls  are  being  fused  in  these  flames  and 
purified.  The  bravery  of  men  is  applauded 
by  the  angels.  I  have  seen  them  rush  to 
welcome  some  little  chap  who  has  given  his 
life  to  save  others.  That  is  the  Christ 
quality  —  the  highest  form  of  love. 

No  human  power  can  stop  the  war.  The 
fighting  may  go  on  until  the  generations 
now  on  earth  are  all  transferred  to  the  spirit- 
ual worlds.  God  does  not  intervene.  We 
cannot  know  His  purposes.  We  only  know 
that  those  who  die  yet  live. 

A  lot  of  fellows  in  my  tent  were  talking 
about  the  peculiar  agony  of  suspense  that 
mothers  have  to  bear.  Jack  Wells  spoke  of 
that  night  in  Gethsemane  when  the  dis- 


68  Thy  Son  Liveth 

ciples  slept.  But  somewhere  in  that  garden 
was  one  who  did  not  sleep.  Mary  watched  all 
the  dark  night.  Mothers  are  like  that  now. 

There  is  no  method  about  inter-space 
communication.  The  fuss  of  preparation 
is  unnecessary  and  confusing.  We  do  not 
need  the  material  aids  of  paper  and  pencil, 
as  our  minds  converse.  I  recommend  the 
transcriptions  because  you  are  reporting 
these  notes  for  a  purpose.  We  want  them 
as  accurate  as  possible.  Of  course,  I  get 
balled  up.  But  we'll  keep  sight  of  the  plan. 

The  fight  goes  on  ceaselessly.  We  do 
not  share  your  feeling  of  appalling  horror 
and  pain.  We  see,  rather,  the  hosts  of 
clean  young  men  coming  to  found  their 
true  democracy.  Perhaps,  you  had  better 
write  "augment"  in  place  of  "found." 

As  we  progress  I  find  we  are  less  inclined 
to  criticize  the  efforts  or  condemn  the  failures 
of  others.  Something  of  truth  must  be  in 
the  minds  of  even  the  fakers  who  try  to 
materialize  spirits  and  set  tables  to  jumping 
about  a  room.  Primitive  people  were  taught 
by  means  of  crude  spectacles.  But  now  we 
have  a  way  more  suited  to  our  developing 
intelligence. 


Thy  Son  Liveth  69 

I  told  you  about  my  wireless  work.  It 
seems  to  us  to  indicate  a  change  in  the  plan, 
a  movement  on  the  part  of  the  Lord  to 
intervene.  We  have  all  wondered  why  God 
did  not  sweep  the  Huns  out  of  their  wicked- 
ness. But  humanity  is,  we  suppose,  allowed 
to  exhaust  itself  before  Divinity  steps  in. 
What  are  the  words  in  the  Book?  Except 
the  Lord  stretch  forth  His  hand,  all  flesh 
will  perish  from  the  earth.  Please  look 
up  the  exact  wording. 

Do  not  let  us  stop,  now,  to  go  over  what 
I  have  said  and  correct  inconsistencies. 
The  way  unrolls  continually,  and  I  get  vari- 
ous angles  of  vision.  I  am  not  seeing  much, 
as  yet,  that  is  so  very  different  from  the 
earth  as  you  know  it.  I  should  say  that 
the  difference  is  chiefly  in  my  new  keenness 
of  perception. 

Wells  makes  occasional  journeys  to  the 
place  where  his  folks  live.  I  quote  him, 
particularly,  because  you  know  him.  When 
I  ask  him  how  it  is  out  yonder,  he  says  for 
me  to  wait  and  see  for  myself.  This  may 
illustrate  the  point  I  have  been  trying  to 
make.  I  asked  him  about  the  marriage  of 
his  older  sister  and  her  husband.  I  heard 


Thy  Son  Liveth 


that  the  married  become  incorporated  in 
one  body.  That  is  not  just  as  it  seemed 
at  first  to  be.  The  two  who  love  and  marry 
are  one  in  spirit  and  act  and  think  as  one 
soul.  But  they  are  separable  in  form  and 
able  to  pursue  their  independent  ways. 

1  "have  formed  a  friendship  with  Ann. 
She  is  as  playful  as  a  child,  and  I  like  her. 
But  we  are  not  mentally  companionable. 
You  remember  a  poem  you  liked  by  Miss 
Colson,  about  laughter  in  Heaven?  Well, 
there  is  laughter  here  all  right.  I  could  not 
repeat  a  joke  or  any  special  thing  that 
might  be  labeled  humorous  that  is  said 
or  done.  But  there  is  a  kind  of  joyousness 
that  finds  expression  in  laughter. 

Cooper  has  gone  back  to  Blighty.  I 
missed  him  and  asked  Jack  where  he  had 
gone.  I  do  not  understand  yet.  Will  let 
you  know.  Am  excited  over  news.  Must  go. 

I  have  a  delicate  task  here,  mother. 
Cannot  speak  of  it  without  higher  authority. 
If  I  receive  that,  I  know  I  can  depend  on 
your  judgment  and  good  taste.  I  have  con- 
ferred with  Wells,  who  is  further  advanced 
than  I  am.  Wait  alone  for  this. 


Thy  Son  Liveth  71 

There  are  lots  of  wireless  men  here,  and 
we  are  busy.  We  are  immensely  improved 
in  our  work,  and  are  able  to  decipher  any 
code.  The  German  operators  cannot  see 
us  when  we  are  around.  But  a  man  can- 
not be  a  wireless  expert  unless  he  has  a 
finely  developed  sense.  They  feel  us,  all 
right.  And  they  are  afraid. 

Mother,  it  is  not  a  new  thought,  but  it  is 
true  that  all  forms  of  life  are  created  dual. 
We  have  spoken  of  the  human  and  spiritual 
only  briefly,  because  I  am  crassly  ignorant, 
even  yet.  But  Nature  is  also  two-sided ; 
material  and  ethereal.  Everything  is  dupli- 
cated, forest,  stream,  landscape.  Does  that 
fact  not  make  my  place  of  residence  more 
tangible  to  you?  I  should  have  told  you 
sooner  if  I  had  heard  of  it. 

Yes,  I  know  what  you  are  up  against 
trying  to  get  this  across.  Poor  little  mother  ! 
Her  neighbors  think  she  is  a  nut.  But  if 
you  can  get  a  few  to  try  to  write  they  will 
start  things.  Explain  how  simple  it  is. 
A  place,  a  pencil,  a  pad  of  paper  and  a  heart 
crying  the  name  of  a  boy.  That's  all  that 
is  necessary. 


72  Thy  Son  Liveth 

I  have  permission  to  tell  you  that  Cooper 
has,  because  of  his  understanding  and  com- 
passion, been  sent  back  home  as  an  instructor. 
His  body,  sustained  by  some  life  principle 
which  I  cannot  explain,  has  been  all  this 
time  in  a  reconstruction  hospital  back  of  the 
French  lines.  You  may  see  him  with  your 
own  eyes.  And  you  will  know  that  any  man 
who  has  crossed  No  Man's  Land,  and  returned, 
has  a  message  to  the  world  from  God. 

Wells  is  hurrying  on  with  his  preparations 
to  go.  I  do  not  know  whether  I  am  to  go 
with  him  or  not.  I  rather  hope  I  may. 
And  yet  I  do  not  want  to  cut  off  our  line  of 
communication.  I  think  after  I  leave  this 
environment,  I  shall  have  greater  difficulty  in 
communicating.  As  I  have  said  before,  I 
shall,  perhaps,  enter  into  less  translatable 
conditions.  The  common  speech  may  be 
inadequate.  That,  alone,  may  account  for 
the  futile  messages  transmitted  through 
mediums.  Still,  the  spirit  is  free  to  travel, 
and  it  is  likely  I  may  find  a  way  to  continue 
my  letters  to  you  and  to  give  you  such 
information  as  may  be  permitted. 

You  hope  I  will  not  go,  dear?  Well,  I 
may  hang  around  here  indefinitely.  Many 


Thy  Son  Liveth  73 

are  coming  in,  however,  and  it  looks  as 
though  we  might  be  transferred.  One  reason 
makes  me  rather  keen  to  go.  Jack  told 
me  about  his  younger  sister  last  night.  She 
is,  it  seems,  a  tremendous  favorite  with 
him.  I  said  I  wished  I  could  see  her.  And 
there  she  was !  A  vision,  really,  in  response 
to  my  wish.  I  don't  believe  heaven  has  a 
sweeter  sight.  I  saw  her  plainly :  dark- 
haired,  blue-eyed,  with  a  face  of  great 
brightness  and  fine  color.  Up  to  this  time 
that  I  am  relating  the  circumstances  to  you 
it  has  seemed  miraculous,  out  of  the  natural 
order  of  things,  that  I  could  conjure  up 
this  girl's  likeness.  But  I  now  realize  that 
faculty  to  be  the  commonest  in  the  world. 
You  are  exercising  it,  now,  as  you  think  of 
me  and  of  her.  Here  is  a  point,  mother. 
Maybe  you  can  elaborate  it.  You  project 
your  thought  to  any  scene  or  you  draw 
toward  you  whatever  vision  you  will. 
Words,  one-syllabled  or  many,  unlock  the 
intelligences  in  all  familiar  ways.  But  the 
faculties  of  the  creature  made  in  God's 
own  image  are  for  the  most  part  undeveloped, 
inert.  Think  of  this  in  very  simple  terms. 
We  are  made  in  God's  own  image.  Not 
faint  resemblances  of  Him,  but  images. 
Look  the  word  up  in  the  best  authorities. 


74  Thy  Son  Liveth 

We  ought  to  be  able  to  accomplish  anything. 
At  first  I  tried  to  say  that  the  inner  ear  and 
the  inner  vision  must  be  opened  to  make 
communication  as  easy  as  it  is  natural. 
Upon  this,  I  am  now  sure,  depend  social 
relations  of  the  worlds.  We  shall  see  each 
other,  face  to  face,  when  we  get  rid  of  the 
acquired  films  that  shut  out  vision,  and  the 
obstacles  that  impede  the  ways  of  sound. 

A  good  deal  of  the  old  temper  seems  to 
be  sticking  to  me.  I  got  in  with  some 
Boches  to-day  on  the  battle  field,  and  felt 
a  rush  of  hate  and  fury,  impossible  to  de- 
scribe. I  rushed  among  the  wounded  like 
a  mad  man.  But  He  was  there,  ministering. 
I  hardly  know  how  I  came  away. 

I  talked  with  Wells  about  this,  later,  in 
my  tent.  He  said  we  must  give  up  thinking 
of  Christ  as  ours  alone.  He  quoted  His 
words,  as  the  mob  howled  around  Him  on 
Calvary : 

"Father,  forgive  them,  for  they  know  not 
what  they  do." 

It  may  be  that  the  peculiar  conditions  of 
our  work  here  make  my  judgments  rather 
one-sided.  I  fancy  in  other  locations, 


Thy  Son  Liveth 


America  for  instance,  the  people  who  have 
come  out  must  see  many  things  in  alto- 
gether different  lights.  They  are  dying 
around  you,  every  day.  It  should  be  per- 
fectly simple  to  communicate  with  them. 
We  are  dwelling  on  the  military  exodus  for 
the  reasons  we  have  outlined. 

Mother,  I  often  think  of  the  days  when  I 
was  a  little  boy.  How  good,  and  patient, 
you  have  always  been  to  me.  Don't  forget 
in  all  this  striving  to  let  other  hearts  have 
comfort  that  the  same  old  love  is  in  your 
boy's  heart  for  you. 

I  got  your  wire  calling  my  attention  to 
the  scriptural  statement  that  in  heaven 
there  is  neither  marriage  or  giving  in  mar- 
riage, and  I  do  not  know  what  to  say.  It 
seemed  (until  you  gave  me  this  jolt)  that  the 
Bible  bears  out  everything  that  I  have  been 
able  to  tell  you.  Perhaps  the  chronicler 
got  balled  up  in  this  particular  quotation. 
For  love  and  marriage  are  certainly  in  bud 
and  flower  here.  I  can  see  this  fact  with  my 
own  eyes.  Many  things  that  I  write  you 
I  gather  from  others,  relying  on  you  to  weed 
out  that  which  does  not  contribute  to  the 
big  plan,  or  any  flagrant  inconsistency  that 


76  Thy  Son  Liveth 

may  rob  some  soul  of  a  crumb  of  comfort. 
Don't  bother  about  much  else.  This  is  a 
message,  and  it  requires  haste. 

Of  course,  there  are  false  reports  and  re- 
porters here.  Not  makers  of  lies,  so  much, 
as  natural  dramatists  who  see  all  things 
in  an  exaggerated  and  spectacular  form. 
Then,  there  are  the  symbolists  who  write 
the  revelations. 

Any  critic  would  have  me  on  the  hip, 
and  they  will  all  be  after  you,  if  you  can 
scare  up  a  publisher  to  take  this.  And  yet 
you  will  likely  find  a  world  more  ready  to 
listen,  openly,  to  such  a  message  than  it 
has  ever  been  before.  Back  in  the  human 
consciousness  has  always  been  a  belief 
in  spiritual  things.  The  belief  has  been 
mixed  with  the  terror  of  the  unknown  and 
denied  because  of  that  fear.  Now  the  hand 
of  God  draws  His  worlds  so  near  that  they 
can  whisper  to  each  other. 

Cooper  will  take  up  his  old  life  on  earth, 
and  his  mother  will  have  her  son.  But  he 
will  not  be  the  same.  None  of  those  who  go 
back  will  be  the  same.  Angels,  dressed  in 


Thy  Son  Liveth  77 

stained    and    faded    khaki,    will    walk    the 
familiar  streets.     Listen  to  them. 

Dogs  come  and  go  freely,  back  and  forth 
across  the  invisible  line.  I  am  told  this  as 
a  fact.  They  do  not  need  to  leave  their 
natural  bodies  to  associate  with  those  who 
have  died.  They  often  follow  their  masters. 
Other  animals  have  not  quite  these  privi- 
leges, but  after  dissolution  they  appear 
here.  I  may  not  be  clear.  I  often  find  a 
certain  embarrassment  in  saying  things  that 
I,  myself,  would  once  have  called  bunk. 
But  I  guess  they  are  true,  all  right. 

Try  and  remember,  mother,  dear,  that 
I  do  not  know  much  more  than  I  did  when 
I  left  you.  That  is,  no  wisdom  has  been 
given  me.  I  am,  however,  quickened  in  my 
perceptions,  and  my  natural  bent  is  en- 
couraged. I  have  every  opportunity  to 
learn.  I  suppose  arbitrary  rules  must  under- 
lie this  harmonious  system  of  living.  But 
they  are  not  felt.  None  of  us  are  fretted 
by  "shalt  nots"  or  "shalls."  We  seem  to 
go  along  about  as  we  please.  But  we  please 
to  move  with  enthusiastic  energy ;  if  we 
did  not,  I  suppose  we  might  feel  the  sharp 
stick. 


78  Thy  Son  Liveth 

We  do  not  have  classes  in  the  ordinary 
acceptance  of  the  term.  But  men  of  like 
interests  gather  and  exchange  information. 
I  have  learned  a  lot  about  wireless  that  I 
hope  to  communicate  some  other  time; 
through  a  technician,  maybe. 

I  want  to  suggest  to  you  to  keep  these 
notes  entirely  apart  from  anything  else  I 
write  you.  Do  not  make  a  big  book.  Let 
it  be  only  a  few  pages  to  hide  in  a  mourner's 
sleeve.  Call  it  a  sleeve  book,  if  you  want 
to.  I  think  that  might  convey  an  idea. 
But  in  any  case  keep  it  free  from  subjects 
or  speculations  outside  the  main  plan,  which 
is  :  comfort  for  war-robbed  humanity.  Keep 
after  that!  There  is  no  death!  and  don't 
let  any  attractive  theory  sidetrack  you. 
The  firing  is  continual  and  terrific.  I  must 
get  on  the  job  of  guiding  the  boys  through. 
They  will  come  without  fear. 

You  feel  the  need  for  more  definite  informa- 
tion about  this  existence  before  you  go 
out  to  talk  of  immortality.  But  you  have 
all  that  your  untutored  Bob  can  tell  you, 
and  a  thousandfold  more  in  John.  Read 
the  fourteenth  chapter  again.  It  is  all 
there :  the  whole  plan  of  eternal  life,  con- 


Thy  Son  Liveth  79 

tinuous  life,  I  mean.  There  are  no  mansions 
here,  that  I  see.  But,  as  I  have  explained, 
we  form  one  of  many  special  brigades  or 
divisions  of  soldiers,  and  are  now  in  active 
relief  service  in  the  war  zone.  We  have 
tents  and  equipment ;  we  talk  and  walk 
and  choose  our  companions.  We  love  or 
like,  or  avoid  others,  according  to  our  own 
impulses.  We  look  as  we  did  in  the  flesh. 
It  seems  almost  as  though  we  had  only  slipped 
out  of  our  skins,  as  the  snakes  do.  A  nat- 
ural process,  familiar  to  simple  people, 
but  too  simple  to  be  considered  by  those 
butterfly  hunters  that  try  to  net  the  soul. 
Please  cut  that  out,  mother.  You  might 
leave  the  comparison  to  the  snake,  however ; 
I  think  that  holds  some  truth. 

The  premise  is  all  right,  isn't  it?  You 
have  it  clear?  There  is  no  death.  Life 
goes  on  without  handicap  or  hindrance. 
We  are  very  busy.  There  is  no  talk  of  peace, 
here.  I  gather  from  what  the  angels  say 
that  the  war  will  go  until  many  more  of 
the  valiant  have  come  through  this  valley, 
and  have  gone  on  to  form  a  new  democracy 
on  another  plane.  I  am  reporting  impres- 
sions, and  have  no  authority  for  my  con- 
clusions, except  the  authority  of  my  own 


80  Thy  Son  Liveth 

intelligence.  Do  not  be  terrorized  even 
should  an  invasion  of  America  be  made. 
The  easiest  thing  in  life  is  death. 

Jack  Wells  and  I  are  very  close  friends. 
His  sister's  name  is  Alice,  and  she  has  grown 
up  in  the  country  beyond,  where  his  folks 
live.  It  seems  all  reach  or  return  to  maturity. 
Youth  blossoms  and  flowers,  but  does  not 
decay.  I  can  call  up  her  vision  at  any  time. 
But  I  want  her  near. 

Christ  walks  among  the  wounded  con- 
tinually. The  dying  see  Him,  and  the  hurt 
are  healed  by  His  hand.  Many  have  told 
me,  and  several  times  I  have  felt  Him  near. 
Once,  for  a  moment,  I  saw  Him,  I  told 
you. 

Preserve  an  unemotional  mind,  dear.  San- 
ity and  simplicity  are  essential  to  our  pur- 
pose. Do  not  go  on  any  tangent  of  de- 
scription, or  undertake  analyses.  What  is 
here  is  here.  Some  people  will  find  what 
we  have  hoped  to  give  them.  Others  must 
find  comfort  in  different  ways. 

You  have  understood,  haven't  you  ?  That 
I  no  longer  stop  and  dictate  these  things  to 


Thy  Son  Liveth  81 

you?  I  talk  to  you  as  I  perform  my  tasks, 
or  lie  at  rest,  or  march  along  my  ways.  It 
is  almost  certain  that  we  are  to  be  ordered 
on  within  a  few  hours'  time.  Destination 
unknown.  But  wherever  it  may  be,  I 
shall  travel  with  eager  curiosity.  I  shall 
surely  tell  you  all  I  can.  It  may  be  that 
one  returns  to  this  boundary  for  purposes 
of  communication.  That  will  develop  later. 

Take  care  of  your  health.  You  have  a 
task  that  you  must  not  fail  to  accomplish. 
You  can  bind  up  some  of  the  most  grievous 
wounds  in  the  world.  Keep  your  strength 
and  go  up  and  down  the  wailing  places  on 
the  earth,  and  say  and  know:  "Thy  son 
liveth."  That's  your  part. 

Isn't  it  foolish  to  try  to  convince  any  one 
of  anything?  What  words  are  there  to 
prove  or  disprove  that  life  was  and  is  and 
ever  shall  be?  If  one  does  not  realize 
now  naturally  and  without  argument  that 
he  is  an  undying  soul,  he  will  come  to  realize 
it  some  time.  Why  hurry  him  ? 

I  am  on  the  march.  And  I  am  thinking 
of  you,  and  the  eternal  verities,  and  of  the 
wondering  of  a  boy  walking  beside  me,  and 


82  Thy  Son  Liveth 

of  the  land  that  lies  beyond  our  Jordan. 
And  through  and  over  all  these  other  thoughts 
is  something  that  permeates  them  with  a 
kind  of  thrilling  fragrance.  It  is  love,  I 
think,  mother. 

We  are  passing  through  a  land  laid  waste 
and  yet  triumphant.  I  felt  immensely  sur- 
prised to  see  in  all  its  beauty  one  great 
cathedral  that  had  been  destroyed.  The 
angel  said  that  all  such  buildings  of  prayer 
and  song  are  spiritual  and  beyond  vandal 
desecration.  The  bricks  will  be  restored 
to  conform  to  the  imperishable  idea.  I  do 
not  want  to  get  metaphysical  (in  the  be- 
wildering way).  I  just  want  to  say  that  I 
am  improving  in  spiritual  vision.  When 
we  started  out  before,  you  remember,  I  was 
only  able  to  see  the  obvious :  broken  bodies 
of  flesh  and  of  stone.  To-day  I  see  the 
immortal  structures. 

It  is  so  simple,  dear.  Here  I  am  on  the 
open  road  that  all  humanity  travels,  going 
toward  the  enlarged  opportunities  that  await 
me.  I  have  been  talking  to  the  boy.  He  is 
not  more  than  fourteen.  But  he  fought 
his  fight.  Spenser  has  taken  him  under 
his  wing.  I  don't  mean  that  literally. 


Thy  Son  Liveth  83 

None  of  us  have  wings.  But  that  reminds 
me  of  what  I  was  going  to  tell  you  about 
the  messengers.  Some  way  those  old  Greeks 
must  have  been  in  touch  with  this  side  of 
the  world.  Olympus  must  have  pierced 
the  invisible.  For  instance,  these  messen- 
gers wear  little  wings  on  then-  feet.  I  do 
not  know  whether  they  grow  there  or  not. 
One  passed  us  a  moment  ago,  treading  the 
air  with  incredible  grace.  Hermes  reborn. 
They  are  employed  between  some  higher 
command  and  our  own. 

Spenser  is  reconciled  to  wait  for  his  girl 
to  join  him.  There  is  so  much  to  do  that 
the  time  passes  with  much  swiftness  in  and 
out  of  light  and  dark.  We  have -the  same 
natural  divisions  that  you  have.  Why  should 
this  not  be  true  ?  We  are  still  on  earth.  As 
we  pass,  differences  may  arise  that  we  are 
not  conscious  of,  but  so  far  as  I  am  able  I 
shall  keep  you  informed. 

We  have  now  reached  a  river  of  surpassing 
beauty.  I  have  always  felt,  and  I  am  more 
impressed  than  ever  with  the  feeling  now, 
that  a  river  is  more  spiritual  than  any  other 
expression  of  physical  nature.  It  may  be 
that  this  is  our  port  of  egress.  It  is.  We 


84  Thy  Son  Liveth 

have  been  commanded  to  halt.  One  desire 
seems  to  animate  us  all :  that  is  to  run  down 
and  swim  in  this  shining  stream.  We  have 
thrown  away  our  outer  garments  and  are 
plunging  in.  Good-by  for  now.  I  am 
running  down  to  the  water  as  I  used  to  run 
down  to  the  old  mill-stream,  tingling  with 
joy.  .  .  . 


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